I Want the Fire Back
by Sirius Lee In Love
Summary: [Complete] Hermione is obsolete – the War is over, Harry and Ron are busy, and she the mere Charms teacher at Hogwarts. When a presumably dead man comes back better than ever, she suddenly means everything... to him. SiHr
1. Back in Black

**I Want the Fire Back**

**Summary:** Hermione is obsolete – the War is over, Harry and Ron are busy, and she the mere Charms teacher at Hogwarts. When a presumably dead man comes back better than ever, she suddenly means everything... to him. SiHr

**Rating:** R for language, themes, sex, and whatever else may come out of my twisted little mind.

**Disclaimer:** It's not me who owns these characters or any plots associated with the Harry Potter books.

**Chapter 1: Back in Black**

Hermione wondered aimlessly around Hogwarts corridors, wishing to catch a student out of bed snogging wildly with someone from another house. Usually Hermione would never be in so dire need of something as… _scandalous_ as that, but her life had taken a precarious turn. Now separated from her two best friends, Ron and Harry, the Golden Trio ceased to exist. Now in existence were the Courageous Duo – Ron and Harry, the most daring Aurors since the days of the Marauders – and Hermione Granger… Charms professor. Complete bleh, when you come to the latter in the sentence.

"Just admit it, 'Mione," the young woman used her own nickname as she talked to herself, "You were a know-it-all bookworm in school, and it led you to become a know-it-all _bore_ in society."

Giving up her improbable hope of finding the scandalous students, she let her feet take her wherever they pleased. No students were likely to be out of bed anyways – it was the first night of a new term, and tomorrow would be her first year as Hogwarts new Charms professor. Maybe she would be like Binns, and continuing teaching after death because she was so used to routine and the such that she didn't know anything as horrid as her own life ending.

Heaving a great sigh, Hermione twisted open the door handle in front of her. Expecting to enter her own quarters, she was a little surprised to notice that the room she had entered was indeed, _not_ her quarters.

The room was large and square; as it had been in the past, and now the only thing that was in it was a large doorway in front her. It was surrounded in intricate carvings and it appeared to be completely black inside. No noise, motion, or light came from within it.

_Creepy,_ Hermione admonished as she turned her now tired self around to exit the Room of Requirement.

The door was gone.

"Fuck."

Calming herself slightly, Hermione thought of what could possibly be happening. _Room of Requirements… obviously I 'require' what is in the other doorway, and then I'll be able to leave. _

Step by step she neared the black ominous door, and then she began to notice something. She felt drawn to it, against her will… and now that she lessened the distance between herself and the door, and saw a think black veil was gently flapping on the front. It eerily reminded her of the one Sirius had fallen through five years ago.

She shuddered, and summoned her Gryffindor courage to gently touch a hand through the veil.

And out fell to her feet, a very struggling, skinny, pissed off Sirius Black.

No _wonder_ it had eerily reminded her of the veil Sirius had fallen through five years ago.

Showing that previously mentioned Gryffindor courage, Hermione Granger uttered a small 'eep' and fell to the floor next to the man she had saved.

Sirius started, seeing the woman fall next to him, and turned wildly around trying to find what had knocked her unconscious. Seeing nothing, he peered down into her face. Dark lashes on slightly round, beautiful cheeks, full pink lips, and a stubborn looking jaw. She had flowing brown hair, and was dressed in a baby blue robe showing her womanly curves. And on top of all the changes, Sirius immediately recognized his godson's best friend.

"Fuck."

He sighed, running his hand through his much too long hair. _What to do, what to do. _

Sirius, although giddy at having been rescued, was still not horribly shocked at this event. He knew, just_ knew_ Harry and Dumbledore and the Order would have figured out that he was still alive. He knew they would have searched for him, and found him. He clung to that hope, which was what kept him alive in… that… that _place. _But what he hadn't expected was to re-enter his world to find Hermione Granger, alone and in her nightclothes waiting for him. Sounded a bit risqué put like that. He had expected Dumbledore, Order members, and most of all, Harry; all milling about excited to see him. But such was not the case.

Seeing Granger's wand lying next to her hand, he picked it up and muttered an awakening spell to revive her. A little surprised at still being able to perform magic, he smiled. It had been so long… how long he did not know, but obviously long enough for Hermione to become gorgeous.

_I'm a randy old pervert! _Sirius groaned as his eyes traveled her now awakening body, S_he's half my age!_

He shook his self out of his randy-ness as her eyes fluttered upon, revealing golden brown orbs of curiosity and shock.

"_Sirius?"_

"The one and only, love," the ebony eyed man smirked his charming school days smirk, and pulled the young woman to her feet.

"Jesus," Hermione moaned, putting a thin hand to her face.

"No, no, Sirius – you were right the first time," his smirk broadened.

It hit her that he just had to be him in the flesh, now – only this man could annoy her and make her want to hug him at the same time like that. Not that she would have ever admitted to wanting to hug him the last time she had seen him in her fifth year… The same year she had accused him of _living _through Harry and them… the same year he had died without ever hearing her apology. Who could blame the guy, anyways? He certainly had no life of his own to live… not after what he had been through. And yet, here he was before her, cracking jokes after he had just came back from beyond death.

What a nutter.

"Don't faint on me again, 'Mione," Sirius reached out and held her arm as she teetered unsurely on her feet.

_He called me 'Mione… _she shook herself, _Dammit, Granger, focus. Supposed dead guy telling you not to faint. _

"I didn't _faint_," she protested lamely, "I… went into shock." She huffed and pursed her pouty lips, her cheeks slightly flushed at attempting to appear strong and unyielding. After 20 years of not having… ahem, _been_ with a woman, this was enough to make Sirius' jaw twitch. He wanted to kiss her, so so badly… _Must… remain… non… chalant…_

"Hmm-mm, shock of seeing my ruggedly handsome face," Sirius regretted saying this the moment the words came out, for two reasons: One, he was_ flirting_ with someone half his age; two, he didn't actually know what he looked like, and it was undoubtedly horrid; and three (Ok, he was wrong, it was not two reasons) he was flirting _badly_ with someone half his age.

To his surprise and relief, she giggled. _Granger just _giggled_ at something _I _said?_

Almost knowing that Sirius was referring to her by surname in his head, she responded with: "Black, you're the only man I know that can do this to me."

Was his long-lived fantasy of finally having a beautiful woman throw herself at him going to happen after 20 years? Sirius, unable this time to remain completely nonchalant, stood with his mouth slightly open.

Afraid she had said something unacceptable or offensive, Hermione quickly explained.

"You're the only man I know who can come back from the dead and be as sarcastic as Draco Malfoy… well Malfoy without the cynical-ness, and make me want to laugh, cry, and jump up and down at once."

He nodded in understanding, silently wishing that she would jump up and down for just a bit… Hey, she looked as if she getting a little cold. Jumping would, ah… Certainly get the blood flowing.

_Yeah, _Sirius thought, groaning, _flowing in my nether regions. _

-----------------

**A/N:** Sorry it was so short, but it's just the first chapter, and I'll be updating tomorrow if I get enough reviews. So tell me what you think.


	2. Reward

**I Want the Fire Back**

**Summary:** Hermione is obsolete – the War is over, Harry and Ron are busy, and she the mere Charms teacher at Hogwarts. When a presumably dead man comes back better than ever, she suddenly means everything... to him. SiHr

**Rating:** R for language, themes, sex, and whatever else may come out of my twisted little mind.

**Disclaimer:** It's not me who owns these characters or any plots associated with the Harry Potter books.

**Chapter 2: Reward**

_Nutters, the whole lot of them!_ Hermione thought angrily as she left the Headmaster's office sometime around three in the morning. Dumbledore had greeted Sirius and Hermione in the patronizing all knowing voice with an, "Ah, Sirius. Just on time." _NUTTER._

He wouldn't, however, be bothered to explain just how he had known to expect the quite unexpected guest, but whatever. That was certainly not a new occurrence. He did, _however, _say that Harry would be alerted first thing in the morning and would take the day off to visit, along with Ron. It was also mentioned that Remus was in the school at the moment for he had become the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher again, and he would be told in the morning as well.

Sirius had refused stubbornly to see the Nurse, saying he was fine and all he needed was sleep.

Now all Hermione really cared about was sleep, considering she had classes to teach in a few hours. But alas, it would not happen. She was still wondering why in the lord's name the Room of Requirement had given her Sirius Black. Surely, she did not require him? _Nutter._

"'Mione, are you alright?"

_Aaargh._ Of course, being more than a little tired and confused, she had to forget the cause of her confusion was following her so that she could show him his own quarters. Which, coincidentally, would be right near hers.

"You keep muttering 'nutters' or something under your breath."

_Damn that good hearing of his._

"Sirius… why must you confuse me so?" she laughed lightly, deciding to cheer up a bit. She had, after all, rescued (albeit an accident) her best friend's godfather.

"Just my nature, love. Besides, you're all cute and such when you get flustered." _There I go again, might as well introduce myself as 'Sirius Black, ex-convict, formerly dead, and now a pedophile.'_

Although Hermione was _certainly _of legal age.

_Is he flirting with me?_ Choosing to casually ignore his last comment, not wanting to look too eager for his praise, Hermione motioned to the door they had stopped at.

"Here's your room, I'm right down the hall," she pointed to her door, which was, remarkably, _right down the hall._

This was followed by an awkward silence in which Hermione thought Sirius would thank her, and bid her good night. But Sirius was not entertaining that idea.

"Do you wanna… come in for a bit?" _God I sound like I want to fuck her. Not that I don't, but… I… dammit, that's not what I meant. _

"Um… I'm not sure that's a good idea, Sirius." Hermione bit her lip in a fashion that Sirius had immediately donned cute. "I have classes in the morning, and it's rather late…"

"Bloody hell Granger, you sound like you're my age! Where's all the excitement, late night escapades?" Black eyes twinkled mischievously. At this point he was desperate to have her in his room.

Hermione realized that she had just been complaining about her boring lifestyle, and decided that she would indeed join Sirius in his room for a bit. Definitely something the old Hermione wouldn't do. But still, she did not want to appear fervent about his proposal.

"I don't know…" she continued biting her full bottom lip, making Sirius cringe.

"Hermione, please," his eyes were desperate, and although she had just been winding him up with her uncertainty, she instantly felt guilty. This man had been through so much – it was evident in his eyes. After the place he had just returned from, she really could not blame him for not wanting to be alone. "I just want a little company… Been a bit lonely, lately." He gave a small nervous chuckle, which his partner returned.

"Of course, Sirius. I don't mind, it'll be nice to catch up on old times." She offered him a smile that made his heart skip, and she spoke the password.

_Into the Lion's Den…_

-----------------

Sirius threw off the new black robe Dumbledore had transfigured for him, leaving him in his black turtle neck and jeans. Hermione, taking his cue, removed her outer blue robe, realizing they would be here for a while and it was quite warm inside as well.

She blushed when she noticed Sirius' eyes raking over her body that was now only clothed in a white tank top and grey sweat pants. He moved closer to her, aware of her nervousness but only caring about his hunger. His hunger for human touch, hunger for _her_ touch. Just as he was about to lift his hand up to her uneasy face, something caught his eye on the wall nearest them. It was his reflection.

How could he have even _thought_ about touching her when he looked like _that?_ __

"_Christ._" He jerked his hand back as if she was about to burn him. Dragging himself away from her, he looked into the mirror now in full view of his body. His hair was greasy and black, rivaling Snape's amount of grease, and laid midway down his back. His skin on his face seemed as if it had been _sucked_ from the inside on to his bones, and he had a wild looking beard. The only thing that remained young and attractive were his dark eyes.

Forgetting that Hermione was even there, Sirius ripped off his turtleneck and threw it onto the bed, stepping closer to the mirror. His ribs stuck out grotesquely, and his hipbones looked fatal to anyone that came near.

A tear sprang to his eye. Where had he gone? That young man the women swooned over, with the dashing smirk and the beautiful hair. He had been ripped out and replaced with this… this, _animal._ So much had been taken from him, and he knew this was the most vain, but it was still another thing stolen.

"Sirius."

Hermione's voice seemed to come from far away, and he flinched at it. Sirius? No, he could not be Sirius. He was simply too… revolting. He couldn't be…

She moved towards him, knowing what he was thinking, but not knowing how horrible he felt. How could she? She had not spent nearly twenty years in some sort of captivity away from food and water and… _life._

But she knew what he needed at the moment.

"Sirius," she spoke again, this time, firmer. Reaching up and touching his angular jaw to turn him to her, she smiled reassuringly.

_How can she be so calm, so placid? Can she not see how disgusting I am?_ He was in awe of her.

She gripped his hand now, and led him to the bed. _No no no no_, he thought although he followed her obediently. He would not, no matter how much he wanted her to, let her give her body to him to make him feel better. Knowing what he was thinking, Hermione shook her head and smiled again. She made him sit down, and then pulled her wand out.

Without telling him what was going on, she began casting spells on him. He could feel his hair become lighter and cleaner with one wave of her wand, his beard disappear with another, and his body cleanse with yet another.

She turned him back towards the mirror again, and he saw a vast improvement, but still it was nothing compared to the fine specimen he was before Azkaban. His hair was jaw length, with shorter pieces in the front coyly falling into his matching eyes. His face was clean-shaven except for a bit of hair on his chin, which nicely accented his jaw. But she couldn't do anything for his weight – she didn't trust herself with a weight enhancement charm. They couldn't have an obese Sirius, now, could they?

He was more appeased now, but pouted about the weight factor. Hermione laughed at this, loving how he could appear so much younger with certain expressions. Her laughter was interrupted by a huge ass yawn, though, which she unsuccessfully tried to hide.

"Well, I better, you know… head off to bed." She stood still, not moving towards the door or any closer to Sirius. He knew she was unsure, and he quickly stood up and grabbed her hand. "Please… Stay with me."

Not sure by what he meant, she stuttered. "All… all night?"

Ducking his head so that his eyes completely fell from sight, he nodded. Hearing her light footsteps, he knew that she had left his room out of total disgust for his actions. That is, until he heard the bed groan slightly as her weight was added to the mattress. He looked up in surprise as she grabbed his arm and pulled him next to her. She pulled the covers over both of their bodies, and turned off the lights with her wand.

The only other time she had been in bed with a man like this was when she and Ron had been together years ago, and it was after their first (and only) time having sex. He had wrapped his strong arms around her, making her feel safe, yes, but not content. Not happy. She knew that she was not the one in this current situation that needed comfort, so she wrapped her lean arms around Sirius' extremely thin waist. He stiffened at first, so unused to the touch, but shortly after basked in it. She was warm, so warm… her hair smelled of cherries, and she snuggled perfectly against his chest.

He knew this was wrong, but cliché-ly he also knew it felt so Goddam right.

-----------------

Hermione smiled lightly as she rolled over in her snug bed. It was so warm; she didn't want to get up at all. That was, until she felt a pair of arms around her waist. _Sirius._

"Oh!" she cried, shooting straight up in her bed as last night came back to her in a rush. _Nothing happened._

"Hmm?" Sirius mumbled into his pillow as he turned his head to view her. She noticed a tiny bit of drool on the fluffy instrument of sleep, and stifled a laugh. Looking down at Sirius' now opened eyes, she saw him looking past her. _Not the mirror again…_ But it wasn't the mirror he was looking at. It was a magicked alarm clock. And it read 7:57.

"What are you laughing at? You're late for classes, my dear, and on the first day at that," Sirius replaced his groggy face with his smirk, kissed Hermione soundly on the lips (he was finally realizing that he was _rescued_, his name was cleared, and he was free) in his giddiness, and slipped out of the bed to shower.

_ I'm not a morning person at all, but that was so worth it_, Sirius grinned as he heard Hermione's fluent curses drift into the bathroom he was undressing in. The door to his lodgings was slammed shut in her frenzy to get to her class.

He entered the shower, humming an old song under his breath as he recalled her reaction to their kiss earlier. Reaction? Hardly, she seemed much too caught up in the fact that she was late. Was that good or bad?

Scrubbing himself down unknowingly with very girly raspberry scented body wash he thought, _Didn't even say goodbye, did she? Oh well, I'll get her back for that later…_

-----------------

Professor Hermione Ann Granger flew into her Charms classroom like a Blast-Ended Skrewt was chasing her, only to realize she was hardly clothed to Hogwarts standards in her tank top and sweats.

_Oh bloody sodding hell,_ she grimaced inwardly as she transfigured her clothes, _How will the kids expect me to be a sound teacher when I can't even handle getting myself up in the morning?_

"Good morning class, I'm Professor Granger, and I'm as new to teaching here as you first years are to being here…"

--------------

Sirius pissed and moaned as he fiddled with his wet hair, trying to arrange it to cover as much of his face still being able to see. Finally giving up, he threw himself backwards onto his four-poster bed and sighed.

Abruptly Sirius' ears were met with a strange array of musical sounding knocking on his door. _Must be Dumbledore, only that man would prefer to walk all the way down here to perform a cute little knock to using the fireplace. _

He threw open the door and attempted to smile at his old Headmaster, hoping it would make him less hideous. "Ah, Mr. Black, I presume you'll let an old man such as myself come in?"

"Don't be so formal, Pro – Albus. We're both fairly acquainted adults here, and I'll soon be joining you on the old man list," Sirius chuckled as he moved aside and let him in.

_Quite wrong, my boy, quite wrong indeed,_ he thought knowingly. "You slept well, I see?" Dumbledore noticed Sirius looked quite refreshed and the bags under his eyes were lessened, and his eyes twinkled enough to rival his own.

His protégé observed him for a moment, and smiled. He knew that he knew that Hermione had spent the night. Blushing, he nodded.

Dumbledore nodded in that knowing manner he had developed over the past 100 years, and spoke, "If you'd like, we can go to a private breakfast in my office where we'll be accompanied by someone I'm sure you'll be glad to see."

"Harry? Is it Harry?" Sirius practically danced from foot to foot, resembling the hyper dog he could willingly become.

"No, no, not Harry. You'll meet him in a little bit, but first, there is a mistake that must be corrected."

---------------

_Mistake? What mistake? Am I not supposed to be here? Is he going to send me back? Don't be stupid, Sirius. Dumbledore wouldn't do that… Of course not._ But a new fear was pounded into his heart as he entered the office, for, sitting next to the perched Fawkes, sat an Auror, a man who was clearly Minister of Magic (his robes were a give away) and a St. Mungo's doctor. _They're sending me back to Azkaban. _The rational part of Sirius' mind had flown off on a broomstick, or else who would have realized that that occurrence was impossible. He was a free man, clear of charges.

Seeing his former student's panicked look as his eyes darted unceremoniously around the room looking for an escape, Albus chuckled. He motioned to the three people, and introduced them. "Sirius, this is Ren Ascoy –" he motioned to the Auror –"This is Zachariah Stoewrun –" he pointed to the doctor –"And you know Arthur Weasley, our new Minister of Magic."

Sirius jumped in shock when he saw the friendly balding redheaded man smile, and was surprised he had not seen him. He had been too preoccupied watching the rather bulky Auror for any sudden movements he should flee from.

"Arthur!" Sirius relaxed slightly, realizing that none of these people seemed horribly threatening, and moved to shake the Order Member's hand.

"Sirius, good to see you chap, up and running again," Arthur smiled and ran a hand over his now practically bare head. "You're probably wondering about the Auror and Doctor, eh? Well the Ministry would have had a fit if I hadn't brought ol' Ren here, in case you were dangerous or something of the sort. Wherever you were in the past five years could have broken your mind, it was just a reassurance. Now, Zachariah is here for an entirely different reason." Mr. Weasley paused and looked to Dumbledore, who took it up from there.

"The Ministry has never looked quite as foolish as it did four years ago, Sirius, when it came to the public's attention that you were innocent. They had locked a young, innocent man in the most vile place on earth, and they're apologies did very little to qualm the outrage of the people. Harry, Hermione, Ron and others were very keen on getting it out to everyone on how you were framed and the such, and that you never had a fair trial. At any rate, the Ministry, now aware that you are back, wants to make it up to you in the best way possible. Not only for your forgiveness, but for the people's too."

Sirius snorted, "They could never make me forgive them for what they did to me," he shook his head, but curiosity made him ask. "But what are they proposing?"

Albus smiled, knowing Sirius would never have his life back, nor would he ever forgive the Ministry, but also knowing he would be thrilled at this offer.

"You're aware of a De-Aging Spell, I'm sure? The Ministry has offered to activate the spells use on you. You're going to be given back the last twenty years, physically anyways."

Sirius gaped, opening and closing his mouth. He had never heard of the spell being done, considering it was highly illegal and could be traced easily, unless registered with the Ministry.

Arthur couldn't help but grin. "Sirius, you're going to be twenty again."

-----------------

A/N:Sorry if that sounded lame, lol. Please review, and the next chapter has great detail of Sirius' twenty-year-old body. To clarify, the spell reverses any aging, scarring, and the likes back until the age you wish. So everything that has happened to Sirius in the last twenty years will disappear, and he will have the _same_ body he did when he was twenty. Ok, that's all, love yas, Syl.


	3. Can’t Be Held Responsible

**I Want the Fire Back**

**Summary**: Hermione Granger is stuck in a rut – Voldemort is dead, Harry and Ron are ultimately busy Aurors, and she is just the boring Charms teacher at her old school. But Sirius Black can't just let her go through the motions. Si/Hr, slight Dr/Gi & Re/To.

**Rating**: R for language, themes, sex, and whatever else may come out of my twisted little mind.

**Disclaimer**: It's not me who owns these characters of any plots associated with the Harry Potter books.

**Chapter 3: Can't Be Held Responsible **

Sirius Black was, to say in the least, quite pleased with the Ministry. So pleased in fact, that he immediately after being reverted to his twenty-year old self, kissed

Zachariah the Medi-Witch soundly on the lips before spinning him around giddily. Realizing the horribly unmasculine act he had just committed, Sirius promptly dropped the man back onto his own feet and cleared his throat. Following this, he let out a whoop of joy and grinned at his new reflection. Or would it be _old_ reflection?

It didn't matter – old or new or whatever – it was _his, _and it was _miraculous. _Sirius' hair changed very little from the cut Hermione had given the night before, and it still framed his face and lay alluringly in his twinkling ebony eyes. His body had become the epitome of lean and muscular, with a hard stomach, firm ass, and strong arms. He also noticed that his right ear's piercing had come back – and in it was an earring Sirius had never seen before. It was silver and dangled slightly, and if you came close enough you could see a tiny dancing flame amidst the metallic shine of the element. Obviously compliments of Dumbledore. His smile lines near his eyes and mouth were completely gone, and now remained a fresh, young face that Sirius had missed more than he had imagined. Growing up was so hard when you had everything ripped from you at a young age – seeing yourself get older but never getting anywhere nearer to happiness or contentment had been difficult for Sirius.

But he had just been given a second chance – no, he couldn't change the past – but he could change the direction his future had been going.

Sirius was nervous – he was pacing Dumbledore's office, awaiting Harry, Ron, and Remus' arrival. They had to wait until Hogwarts' lunch period for Remus to show up, so they had forced Harry to remain away a little bit longer. Sirius preferred that everyone came at once – it was easier that way, he assumed. Arthur, Zachariah, and Ren had left to return to the Ministry, and now Dumbledore was left alone with his old student.

"Lemon drop?" the casual offering stirred Sirius from his pondering of the night before, and he flashed a breath-taking grin and accepted the candy. Things may change, but Dumbledore seemed very unlikely to transform anytime soon.

Suddenly a noise was heard from the fireplace, announcing the arrival and Harry Potter and loyal friend Ronald Weasley. Harry, in his haste to get to his dearly missed godfather and to untangle himself from Ron, flew across the room and knocked into Fawkes' perch. At the same moment, the office door was pulled open and Remus Lupin stumbled into a shrieking Ron as he discovered a spider on the floor next to where he had landed. Last to enter was Hermione, who intelligently stood back and observed all of this with a well-accustomed eye. Dumbledore grinned favorably as Fawkes' wing nearly smacked him in the eye as he flew towards

safety and well away from the over-excited humans.

"Sirius! Oh God, Sirius! You came back!" Harry screeched, successfully enveloping his welcoming godfather in a hug.

"Of course, Harry! Did you think it would be that easy to get rid of me?"

"_Spider!_ Remus, watch it, _spider!_ Ah! It's looking at me!"

"Ron, I squashed the damn spider! Are you happy?"

"You didn't have to be mean about it, 'Mione."

"Oh grow up, Ron. And Padfoot, come give your old friend a hug," Remus Lupin ended the promising fight between the two old friends and approached the man who was really his only brother left.

"Moony, is that _less_ grey hair I see on your head? Or is it some trick of the light, hmm?"

"Not that _you'll_ have to worry about greys anytime soon, as I can see from your new appearance – but yes, it is a possibility that there is less. You can thank your cousin Tonks for that, dear boy," Remus grinned as Sirius clapped him on the back companionably.

"She dye your hair, did she?"

"No, she just made my life a lot better."

Sirius could see the emotion in his friend's eyes, and he was happy that the ol' wolf had found someone to love and accept him. Even if that someone _was_ his younger cousin.

Harry was not straying far from Sirius' side as his godfather began talking avidly with Remus and Ron. That was, until they made the mistake of asking him exactly where he had been the last five years. He closed up immediately and slightly avoided the subject.

"That doesn't matter now, does it? Just thank your precious Hermione here for saving me," he gestured towards the blushing brunette, who did anything but lap up his praise. After all, it was not as if she had been _looking_ for Sirius Black that night. Nor did she understand just why the Room of Requirement had given him to her.

"Yeah, I was wondering 'bout that," Ron spoke carefully – well, what would be considered carefully for him. "Just why _did_ the Room of Requirement free Sirius when Hermione came in there?"

_Is he a bloody psychic? _Hermione snarled in her mind. She was hoping they would _avoid_ that mystery for a little while yet, at least until she had it figured out.

"Something to ponder, for sure, for sure," Dumbledore displayed naught but that inane grin of his and offered the rest of the occupants a lemon drop. Although Remus and Hermione had to return to classes in the afternoon, it would be hours afterward that Harry, Ron, and Sirius remained talking.

Remus decided that since he and Hermione had a few more minutes before class technically started, he would try to find out as much as possible about his friend's return the previous night.

"Remus, I really don't know what happened… I walked in by accident, and there was a veil. You know the type," she looked at him meaningfully and he nodded.

"The room wouldn't let me out – so I figured, fine, no harm in sticking your hand in a foreign doorway. So I did."

"Still makes you wonder… Why would Hermione Granger _require_ Sirius Black?" Remus was smirking, and Hermione could no longer hold in her frustrations. As if _that_ question had not been in her mind all sodding night and day.

"You utter git! Do you not think I wonder about that too? I don't understand this, Remus. I don't like not being able to understand things, you know that. I feel out of control… I feel _emotions_ that I've never felt before. I'm scared," Hermione downcast her eyes, and Remus pondered for a moment before asking, "The emotions you feel… are they because of the situation, or _towards_ a certain shaggy black dog we all know and love?"

Students began pouring into the halls, obviously eager to get done with their classes and back to their common rooms. Hermione just bit her lip and told Remus that she would talk to him later, for sure. He nodded uncertainly and jogged to the staircase to his own classroom. Hopefully he'd only be a few minutes late.

Sirius was hungry. Mainly because he had missed dinner whilst talking to Harry and Ron, and also because he had barely eaten anything in the last five years. He was seated in the window seat of his bedroom, fiddling with the jewelry that was causing an unusual feeling in his ear. It was magickal, that much was obvious. _Protective charm, maybe?_ But for some reason he didn't feel as if a gift from the Headmaster would be as simple as that.

He stood up at a sudden burst of energy, deciding that he needed to run a bit. He hadn't ran in so long… To stretch out his limbs in Animagus form would truly be a grand pleasure, especially now with the physique he had. It would give him a great sense of freedom, roaming the Hogwarts grounds at top speed, fur flying. And now, he realized, he could rejoin Remus on the full moons, since he was staying at Hogwarts and all.

Mumbling something about eating when he returned, in an instant, Sirius became Snuffles, and bounded out of his room and into the hall. To any student that may have witnessed this, instant amusement would arouse. An enormous grim looking dog, hurdling himself through the air with a human like _smirk_ plastered on its jowls.

Quite fascinating.

But, after all, didn't Sirius Black laugh at the outcome of his confrontation with Peter Pettigrew 20 years ago? The fact that he was heading to Azkaban for a crime he was no far from committing than baby Harry was? Wasn't he also laughing as his cousin Bellatrix hit him with a curse and he fell through a hell dimension veil at the Ministry?

It seemed, that this man, this man who deserved more than _anyone_ else in the world to be happy and at peace, always found something amusing in the most drastic situations that life had dealt him. _Unfairly_ dealt him…

Hermione struggled with her brazen awake ness, trying desperately to lull herself into a nice long sleep. But there would be no such luck for her. If she did fall asleep, she knew of the nightmares that would plague her mind. _Nightmares? No… no, mere memories. Events of the past… Not nightmares – not monsters under the bed and the closet. _Real_ nightmares._ _Things I've been through myself, flesh and blood. _She shivered, from the cold and the obsoleteness of her goal of pleasant sleep. The only night in the last four years that she had spent in blissful peace and comfort was spent in the arms of a formerly dead man.

If that wasn't something new and livening to Hermione Granger, what is?

She decided to join Sirius in his room for the night; she threw all thoughts of consequences and things that could happen out of her head and let her heart do the talking. She knew where she wanted to be – and be damned if she wouldn't go there. After all, Albus had given her the other man's password, just in case. Yes, _just in case…_

About 10 minutes earlier…

Sirius, now fully exhausted and full to his capacity of the best food Hogwarts has to offer, had drifted into a fitful sleep. Alas, he shouldn't have expected any less, for the only night his haunting memories had left him be had been the night that he spent in the Charms professor's arms.

_He had been sleeping, a fitful dreaming sleep; something unusual for him for he was mostly a placid sleeper… Aside from the times he had feelings about events to pass. This night proved just how accurate his little talent could be…_

_He jerked awake, sweat flooding his brow as he nervously glanced at the clock. Something was off - something was so horribly off. _

_Throwing his leather jacket over his jeans and T-shirt (he had been too exhausted to change from Auror business earlier that day) he raced outside his secluded home to the motorbike that awaited him. Sniffing the air on instinct, he swore he could smell the urgency of the darkness. _

_Revving once, twice… he was off… Not caring whether 300 damn Muggles saw him, he flew haphazardly threw the cold night air, keeping his eye on the sky ahead of him. The moon shone bright, almost full… It was Halloween. _

_He saw the smoke before he smelled it; he saw the complete destruction before he saw the bodies. Rubble from a modest two-story house in Godric's Hollow surrounded Sirius and his now meaningless bike. He walked slowly, unsure as to whether this could be real. How could it be? This was where _they _lived… his two best friends. People who had cared for him and loved him no matter how many times he screwed up… no matter how many things he did wrong. And this – this sight before him – was so utterly wrong. _

_Vibrant red hair that no longer reflected her fiery passion for life was splayed across the ground and amidst wooden debris. There was no blood. No tears. Just the calm expression she wore upon her beautiful face… An expression that screamed peace, but he knew that it was more than that. It screamed death… Premature death stealing her casually thrown smiles to all of the Marauders, especially James. _

**_Can t be held responsible_**

**_She was touchin her face_**

**_I won t be held responsible_**

_**She fell in love in the first place **_

_She would always chastise them for their countless pranks, but he could tell she really loved them. The pranks kept her on her toes, they kept her laughing even when times of darkness were upon them. And now the permanent darkness had stolen her away from them._

_He would never see her green eyes shining brilliantly again; not in her tears, not in her mirth, not in her anger. They were gone. He would never see those eyes again. The eyes that had captivated him since the day he had first met Lily Evans. He had seen her, watched her over the years. She was the epitome of beauty and intelligence – untouchable from the start. Untouchable, because, she was James' girl. She had been from the moment they traded insults… and she still would be, even in death. _

_He turned violently away from Lily, tears already cascading freely down his handsome face. This action only caused him to stumble across the sight of his brother and best friend laying as motionless as Sirius' heart did at the moment. _

**_When I was young I knew everything,_**

**_Now I m guilt-stricken, sobbin with my head on the floor…_**

"_Prongs," he managed to choke out as his throat closed painfully, tears thankfully blocking his view of James. He stepped closer, kneeling down so that his knees jammed down into bits of metal, causing him refreshing physical pain to represent the hurt he felt inside. "Don't be gone, Prongs. We aren't done yet – you can't be gone. You promised me – you promised all of us – stuck together for good, remember?" He shook the raven-haired boys shoulder. Yes, boy… for that was what he was yet. A boy… a boy that risked his very existence for the sake of his people, not caring about the peril he put himself in… A boy whose wife laid mere feet away, a woman who had owned the same bravery and selflessness. _

_He remembered nights spent under the full moon at Hogwarts; Remus howling, he and James sporting around playfully… Peter nearby scampering from shadow to shadow… Pranking Snape… Driving McGonagall insane with their horrible study habits and exceedingly good grades… Their proud egos getting them in trouble more than once… _

**_For the life of me _**

**_I cannot remember _**

**_What made us think that we were wise and we d never compromise _**

**_For the life of me_**

**_I cannot believe we d ever die _**

_**For these sins…** _

'_They did nothing – _nothing – _to deserve this… They laughed, they joked, they annoyed! They did not kill families… they did not ruin people's lives… They didn't destroy something as precious as life. What did they do to deserve this?' The anguished young man stayed bent over the corpse of his only remaining true family. No longer remaining… He cried out as his body was racked with sobs, "I would have died for them! I would have died in place of them…! I deserve it more than they ever could have… Me…" _

_He heard an infant's cry and turned sharply, expecting the Goddam bastard who was responsible for this massacre. Expecting Peter to be there… But no, it was Harry. Harry Potter, green eyes fearful and wide. Those eyes… He never would have seen them again… But Harry was alive. And he was too young to avenge his own parents…_

_Faintly aware somewhere in the back of his mind that Hagrid was speaking to him, he pointed to his motorbike and said something equivalent to "Take it. Take Harry." _

_The man who was Sirius Black took one last look at his friends, and an image that had been burned in his brain surfaced. _

_Graduation day… Picture had been taken… In a camera as well as Sirius' mind. Lily wearing the Valedictorian robes pressed against James chest as they grinned naively. Remus next to them, grinning happily, pleased to be out in the real world but also scared to be alone. Peter standing next to him, smiling, his watery blue eyes not revealing what he really was… Not revealing what his true plans after graduation were. And himself… Eyes glinting mischievously for the best 7th year prank ever pulled in Hogwarts history (Dumbledore had said so himself) and his eagerness for life. Adulthood… freedom. If there was one thing he had ever wanted in his life, it was to be as free as corporeally possible. Never expecting that this one thing he wanted most would be the one thing violated most by others… _

_And with that thought, he blinked his eyes shut for a quick moment in peaceful remembrance, and set off to kill the one man that took everything away from him. Everything that he had ever worked for… Everyone that he had ever loved so extremely. And he became the murderer he never truly got to fulfill… _

_In the middle of a crowded street he found his prey… His eyes darting around nervously… "Your job was very unsuccessful, Peter… for one reason. You forgot to take out the big trouble." He always had prided himself on being the best troublemaker the world had to offer…_

**_I laughed the loudest who d have known?_ _I trace the cord back to the wall_**

**_No wonder it was never plugged in at all_ _I took my time, I hurried up _**

_**The choice was mine I didn t think enough** _

_He screamed… accusations, he barely heard his high pitched screeches for all he could hear was the sound of his own pain and anger pounding in his cold heart. Livid thoughts surfaced in his mind. "I killed Lily and James? I'll show you _**kill **_you weak sniveling bastard." Blind with rage, he lifted his wand. Twelve inches, mahogany wood, Manticore hair, excellent for Transfiguration. He numbly wondered if it was good with the Killing Curse. Explosions, loss, hell… no, not hell – worse – Azkaban. Years and years in a cell… dementors… torture… hunger… but most of all, the regret…. Dear God the regret.The tears stopped coming after about the third year. The physical pain stopped at around the fifth. The hunger became so intense it went unnoticed around the tenth year. The memories stayed forever…_

_**I m too depressed to go on… **_

_Now he cried silently, willing his body to give up life and die. Another creature more worthy could take his place in the world. A creature that could protect his friends… that would die for them._

_**I never conquered, rarely came**_

_**16 just held such better days… **_

_Smiling, always smiling… Laughing at the jokes, dramas, and love surrounding them at Hogwarts, their haven. Their place away from the harshness of the cold world. _

_**Days when I still felt alive **_

_**We couldn t wait to get outside **_

_**The world was wide, too late to try…**_

_Around the time of the thirteenth year, he died. No, not physically, but his mind, his spirit, his essence became dead to the place of existence. The world… A shell of a human falling and twisting in a world of absolute pain and dark. He was no longer a man…_

A/N: Italics is supposed to be Sirius' dream that he is having. The bold italics are song lyrics taken from Verve Pipe's _The Freshmen_ and Blink 182's _Adam's Song._ I edited them a tad to fit the story better. I know the dream doesn't really seem all dream-like, but I wanted to put a lot of detail into it, so I apologize! Lol. And don't worry, this is **NOT AN ANGSTY STORY.** The next chapter will be much lighter, as will most of the remaining chapters afterwards. Review! Love yas, Syl!

P.S. Any grammar errors tell me, this was posted late at night… well, ok, I lied, 10 something, but I'M TIRED. So just tell me and I'll correct them ASAP.


	4. Revelations of Requirement

**I Want the Fire Back**

Summary: Hermione is obsolete – the War is over, Harry and Ron are busy, and she the mere Charms teacher at Hogwarts. When a presumably dead man comes back better than ever, she suddenly means everything... to him. SiHr

Rating: R for language, themes, sex, and whatever else may come out of my twisted little mind.

Disclaimer: It's not me who owns these characters or any plots associated with the Harry Potter books.

**Chapter 4: Revelations of Requirement**

_Around the time of the thirteenth year, he died. No, not physically, but his mind, his spirit, his essence became dead to the place of existence. The world… A shell of a human falling and twisting in a world of absolute pain and dark. He was no longer a man…_

------------------

Hermione slipped into Sirius' quarters, unnoticed by any living creature and padded uncertainly towards his bedroom. She could hear soft moaning, and she blushed at the plague of raunchy thoughts that cascaded into her head. Of course, leave it to Padfoot to have that affect on an, _ahem_, innocent. Her dirty thoughts were immediately erased as she heard Sirius cry out, and she hurried inside.

He was perspiring slightly whilst thrashing about on his bed. Knowing that he was having nightmares, and knowing firsthand of the horrors your mind could inflict upon you in sleep, Hermione shook Sirius severely. His black eyes flew open and she gasped at the haunted look in them. The look was soon overcome with his silent tears, and her heart warmed with sympathy. So many countless nights had she woken up the same exact way… only with no one there to comfort her.

"Oh baby, shh… it's okay," she sat on the edge of the bed smoothing Sirius' damp hair gently. He whimpered and buried his face in her stomach as she instinctively wrapped her arms around him. Hermione was a little perturbed at how easily the words of comfort had came out, and in terms that one would use to console a lover.

"I'm fine; I'm okay…" Sirius whispered after a few minutes, pulling away from a still soothing Hermione. She looked at him concernedly, judging for herself if he was indeed, fine and okay.

"Really, 'Mione. Just a memory, I'm fine." She noticed how he said 'memory' instead of 'dream'. Just like her…

She looked down awkwardly, feeling foolish, as she knew he would soon be wondering just _why_ she was in his room in the middle of the night. Before he could say anything, though, she spoke up. "Do you wanna… talk about it?" Looking up from her dark lashes, she saw his attractive face close off like it did when Remus and Harry had brought up his location of the past five years.

"No, I'm fine." He lightened slightly, something she saw him do when a conversation got too deep or edgy. Crack a joke, make a little fun. It was what Sirius Black was all about. "But do _you _maybe have something to say? Being in my bed this late at night, Professor Granger, might cause some suspicious thoughts to arise of us."

She blushed crimson, thanking for the cover of darkness night was providing.

"Couldn't sleep." She faintly recalled her determination of a few minutes ago, ranting about how she didn't care what the consequences were of coming here tonight. The consequences of visiting a sexually deprived man of 20 years in his bed in the middle of the night… Maybe, because, the consequences wouldn't be all that consequential to her – maybe they would be just what she wanted.

Deciding to pull a move she had never done before, Hermione lowered her body onto his, which was, nicely propped up against his pillows in a pleasant manner. His dark eyes widened, but there was no sign of any protest in his gaze. Confusion, maybe, lust, yes, and need, definitely. Her gaze was an exact replica of emotion.

She was doing things she didn't understand – but most of all, she didn't care. She felt excitement…

Slightly recovering, Sirius found his voice was husky as he spoke. "Granger, what are you doing?"

She didn't like it when he called her by her surname – it reminded her that he was related to Ginny's Draco, who stilled called her that. Not that the relation was a _bad_ thing, necessarily – it just made her realize that Sirius was, in fact, still twice her age. _Oh well, love knows no boundar – did I just say _love_? No, I didn't _say_ anything; I thought it. Oh, well, did I just _think _love? Yes, yes you did. Now, question is, did you mean it?_

"Don't call me that – and I'm doing exactly what I want to do," she seemed so proud that she was taking a dive in the pool of life, that Sirius couldn't help but chuckle. "Well that's fine with me, love, but could you mind moving a little to the left? Crushing the package there."

_Package? What was he talking ab-? Oh. OH. Left, 'Mione, left. _She shifted her weight fervently, earning the reward of another sensual laugh from Sirius.

Although embarrassed, she was pleased to see that he had recovered quite quickly from his fretful sleep, and grinned. Until, she realized just how hungrily the Dog Star was looking at her. His amount of wanting enticed her and made her nervous. She knew then that she couldn't make the first move past where she had gotten.

"Kiss me, Sirius?" she whispered, and in that moment he decided that he loved the way she spoke his name. As if it were a beautiful noise that only the highest of beings should hear.

All the man could do was respond – and with a little more tongue than talking required. His mouth ravaged hers; savoring every sweet taste she had to offer. At this, Hermione's anxiety burned away to be replaced with a fire in her skin. Every part of her was alight with need and lust. Never had she felt this for anyone before… never had she expected you _could_ feel this for anyone. When Ginny had spoken to Hermione about her passion towards their ex-enemy Draco, she had nodded and expressed how wonderful it sounded. She had not fully understood until now… not at all.

**When I look into your eyes, you help me realign**

**Ensure me of just how to be myself inside**

Sirius pulled away, gasping for breath and decided this was not enough. Not enough contact, not enough skin, not enough of her to satisfy him… He flipped them over so that he lay now on top of her, and she gasped in surprise, instinct and wanting taking over. _No consequences…_

**I'm in control of everything**

**It's taking time but that's ok**

**I can bring you to my side**

The more experienced of the two began kissing down the other's slender neck, emitting a small groan from her throat. Hermione raked her hands down his chest and succeeded in pulling the hem of Sirius' shirt up and over his head. Her still roaming hands now slithered along his bare chest and abs, taking in every bit there was to touch and see. Sirius moaned into her flesh, and she smiled.

**You're my blessing in disguise**

**You're mine (You're mine)**

**You're mine (You're mine)**

Sirius bit her flesh lightly, getting a small yelp from his surprised partner. Hermione had also discovered another surprise of hers – now pressed against her thigh was Sirius' apparent (and I mean _apparent_) arousal. It was hard to believe she could have that affect on the former Hogwarts sex god. But she wasn't complaining.

**You're my blessing in disguise**

**You make me realize **

**Just how and where I want to be**

**Years from now**

Black had not felt this way in years – the effect Hermione had on him was staggering. She was no tart, no tease, no quickie before bed. She was… different, but not inexplicably so. She was different because he cared for her, genuinely and openly, and he would never let anything happen to her… she was his.

**When my focal point is set**

**I'm something I know I'll get**

Whether she knew it, or wanted it, she had been his the moment she had asked for his kiss. A kiss that sealed the deal for him – she was his territory, primally and lovingly.

**It's not a question of how but more of when**

**You are one commodity**

His.

**The choice is mine and mine for keeps**

**I can bring you to my side**

**You're mine…**

And in that moment, as their flesh was set aflame by one another's arousing caresses, they belonged to a world that had not really meant anything to them for years. A sense of completeness, if you will. They mattered. If not to anyone else, they mattered to each other.

------------------

Hermione woke the following morning, extremely more placid than the night before. She gathered her clothes quietly and left her lover's room. She was beyond confused… Last night had been blissfully wonderful, and she had denounced all thoughts of consequences. But that had been before she woke up and was hit with the reality of what she had done. Let's make a tidy little list, shall we?

1) I slept with my best friend's godfather.

2) He is recently returned from 'the dead' and is very undoubtedly not emotionally stable, thus him not being ready to jump into a relationship.

3) He has not had sex in twenty years but prior to that, had been extremely promiscuous. Thus, meaning he would have shagged anything in a skirt the previous night. Especially something in a skirt that happened to undramtically _throw _herself at him.

4) And now, she was hurt. She had started something he surely had meant to be meaningless, and in the act she had fallen for him.

_ Now I understand why people _do _think of consequences so bloody often…_Hermione growled and pulled at her messy hair, frustrated to the point of crying.

He broke her heart and he didn't even know it. Also, it was the last thing he would ever dream of doing, considering he had fallen quite a bit himself.

------------------

Sirius awoke a few hours after Hermione had left, and at first frowned at the cold sheets next to him. _No goodbye again?_ Then he realized that she had probably just rushed off to class and didn't want to wake him so early. As if _she_ had tired him out last night while it was clearly the other way around.

With a grin on his face and a jaunty little walk he traveled to the bathroom to shower and go down to the kitchens for breakfast…

He knew he shouldn't be with her – the age difference (not that that really mattered _now_), her relations with his godson, the fact that they had never gotten along before he had _died._ What was so different now? Well, now… she had matured a great deal, and they didn't bicker incessantly like before… and there was also all that nonsense about the Room of Requirement. That obviously meant something…

_Maybe I'll visit Granger tonight in her room, and we can have a bit of a chat…_

------------------

That little 'chat' Sirius had hoped for did not take place that night in Hermione's room. Or anyone's room, for that matter. Nor did it the next night, nor the next… Hermione purposefully kept herself busy, knowing full well that if Sirius came near her again wanting the same treatment she had given him on that precarious night, she would give in just to make him happy. Even if it was just a using relationship, anything with him would have been wonderful… but degrading. She couldn't let herself become his tool – no matter how much she wanted to be. So, she avoided him. And well, too. She handed out detentions to the particularly nasty Slytherins, keeping them at late ungodly hours to avoid going back to her room too early. She was hoping that Sirius would be exhausted enough from his own days activities that he would already be asleep by the time she arrived in her quarters.

Sirius had little to do to be as busy as Hermione as his days mostly consisted of visiting with Remus, Dumbledore, and McGonagall, and the rare treat of Harry who was a busy high ranking Auror. Like his father…

And he was not as stupid as Hermione had hoped, either. He heard of her unnecessary detentions at late hours, and how she wandered the school at night with excuses of not being able to sleep well. She was putting herself through hell trying to avoid him; lack of sleeping was getting to her - the bags under her eyes were dark and purple, and she often fell face first into her breakfast in the Great Hall in the mornings. But she was very clever when it came to avoiding her one-night stand – as Sirius still had not cornered her. But he decided he would use the weekend to his advantage – he _would_ get her.

It was Saturday night, around 8:30 and she was walking the grounds as the sun set artfully in the west. Her hair reflected the colors of the sky almost as well as the lake, and it made Sirius smile despite the fact that he was upset with her. So foolish, the valedictorian could be when she wanted to be. _Comes with the stubbornness, I suppose…_

In Snuffles' form, he followed her quietly, quite reminding anyone of just how he earned the nickname 'Padfoot'. As Hermione sat perched obliviously on a rock near the lake, he transformed a few feet behind her.

"I knew you'd find me," she sighed and scooted over on the rock to provide him with room without looking anywhere near his direction. This surprised him, but he took the offer nonetheless.

"Why _did_ I have to find you, Hermione?" she continued staring out at the lake almost wistfully, wishing she were anywhere but there. She remained quiet, so Sirius found the worst possible likelihood of her avoidance and unleashed it.

"You regret what we did, don't you?" He looked down as if to emphasize his non-existing shame, and she turned to him sharply.

"No! I just… I'm confused, Sirius." Now it was his turn to look at her sharply. "So you just ignore the problem?"

She ignored the anger in his voice – after all, she _had_ expected it – and replied softly, looking back towards the lake. "Call it what you want, but I really just needed some time to think it over." It was a half-truth, considering she didn't want to think about the issue but it sure did want to annoy her persistently.

"So, what have you decided?" Sirius turned to look at the lake also, only half admiring the colors and distortions the ripples provided.

This question she had not expected, but Hermione answered as best she could. "That I'd do it again if you came to me. If its what you want…"

He was outraged. "You think I just shagged you because… because I haven't _got_ any for a while?!" She flinched at the harsh tone, but continued her blank stare. "How _dare_ you think I'm that shallow- " She now turned to him in anger, and let all of her emotions from the past few days out in a fluent rant.

"How dare _you_ talk to me as if I am some silly little child like I was five Goddam years ago, Sirius? I have been through a _lot_ in those years, more than you think I have, and I have grown up pretty quickly. And now, now that I'm done with the War and my friends dying, _you_ come along and fuck everything up!" She regretted it instantly, and felt horrible... She made it sound as if his supposed death was better than him being back. But he took no notice of the personal insult, and instead analyzed her.

"You were _miserable!_ And you _know _you were! Your best friends barely talk to you – I saw it that day in Dumbledore's office, Hermione. You grew distant – Ron and Harry moved on after the War, away from Hogwarts, and your friend Ginny is busy with her boyfriend Draco, and the only person you've talked to conversationally in months is Remus. Your life became a routine – and I changed that. And you know what? Not to sound cocky or anything, but I'm _damn_ sure I changed it for the good."

She gasped, knowing he was right but hating to admit it. "I'm not _angry_ because you upset my _routine_, Sirius. I'm grateful for that. I'm upset because… well, because we had sex. _Sex._" He looked at her as if she had just began foaming at the mouth and muttering satanically. "We didn't _make love._ We just had sex. And… it was sex without any emotion… _sex._" She spat the word as if it were a horrid thing.

Sirius squeezed his eyes shut painfully, wishing that she hadn't said that. "You didn't feel any… any, _emotion_ when we had sex? It was just sex to you?" He ran a hand through his hair, heaving a sigh.

"No! You… you were the one who didn't feel anything… when we…" Hermione trailed off now, realizing how horrendously assumptious she had been to think that. She was _so _insecure that she had built up all of these lies to keep herself from being hurt…

Instead of responding angrily, Sirius laughed. Her brown eyes met his black ones in shock. "My dear 'Mione, I felt so many emotions that night that I was surprised I could drag myself off of your beautiful body to stop expressing them to you physically." Hermione blushed scarlet at his scandalous words that brought back vivid memories to her mind _and_ her skin.

He continued, taking her expressions as a plea to go on. "I… felt as if I were bloody Romeo in that sodding Shakespeare play. I mean, Jesus, the things I felt for you were so sudden and strong that it confused me, much like you are now… But I knew, I just knew, that it was more than lust. It was lo-"

He was silenced with Hermione's full lips on his.

"You talk too much, Romeo."

"By my heel, I care not," Sirius quoted artfully as Hermione laughed, and kissed him again.

"That was Mercutio, _not_ Romeo, love."

"Well _I _always thought that Mercutio was better with the ladies anyways…"

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A/N: Sorry if the end was a bit confusing, with the Shakespeare and such. If you didn't know, Mercutio is Romeo's best friend, whose name is linked to the adjective mercurial. The song was Taproot's _Mine._This isn't a songfic, don't fret. It just seemed to fit. But please review, I promise Weasley twins in the next chapter, humor, chaos, food (haha, had to add that in there for some benign reason), Remus and Tonks, and Ginny and Draco. Well basically it's a weekend get together at the Weasley's, if you couldn't tell. Review!


	5. Fitting in With Finesse

**I Want the Fire Back**

**Summary:** Hermione is obsolete – the War is over, Harry and Ron are busy, and she the mere Charms teacher at Hogwarts. When a presumably dead man comes back better than ever, she suddenly means everything... to him. SiHr

**Rating:** R for language, themes, sex, and whatever else may come out of my twisted little mind.

**Disclaimer:** It's not me who owns these characters or any plots associated with the Harry Potter books.

**Chapter 5: Fitting in With Finesse **

Two weeks had passed before the begging of everyone who had ever been a little close to Sirius had overwhelmed everybody to the point of planning a party in his return so that they could all visit with him. Now, a festive Saturday afternoon at the Weasley's had been scheduled, and, surprisingly, it was Molly Weasley's idea. She still felt horribly guilty about the way she had treated the younger man years before, and she wanted to make it up to him as much as possible. Seemed like a lot of people had been trying to do that of late… After you die, suddenly everyone loves you. Except for Snape – Sirius and he still avoided one another uneasily at Hogwarts.

It had also been two weeks that Hermione and Sirius spent smuggling themselves into each others beds at night, sometimes to sleep, sometimes to explore one another with a burning passion neither wanted to end. No one knew of their relationship. Save perhaps Dumbledore and Lupin, who each had their own ways of being all knowing. Dumbledore had that crazy inane way of being vastly astute when it came to the lives of people under the roof of Hogwarts, and Lupin had always been clever and add that to his werewolf senses… well, he could definitely smell their scents on each other. And had so informed them after an extremely raunchy visit during Hermione's lunch break, in an amused tone that, "Shagging during lunch? A but juvenile, don't you think?" Sirius had replied calmly (knowing full well that he had never been any good at hiding much from his old friend and had been prepared), "It's a bit juvenile to be shagging someone thirteen years younger than you, isn't it?" His only reply was a miffed, "Bloody git…" Sirius had loved taking advantage of the fact that he was twenty again… He really had missed it, spending the prime of his life in a cell or on the run.

Sirius had finally convinced Hermione to tell people about their relationship at the Weasley's on Saturday. She had at first protested, insisting that he wasn't ready for the controversy it was sure to arouse. Meaning, Harry Potter's best friend dating his ex-convict-returned-from-the-dead godfather-who-was-twenty-again would make many headlines. She had caved when he gave her the puppy-dog face, though. And with that, they head off to the Burrow.

-----------------

"Ronald Weasley! Been flooing since you were a lad and you still can't land without damaging something!" Molly yelled as her youngest son picked himself up from the floor and glared at a nearby coffee table he had practically attacked. "Sorry mum," he muttered shame-facedly as his older brothers and friends snickered.

"Tis fine, ickle Ronnie!" George grinned as he made a move with his wand to repair the table. He grinned dramatically, "Big brother George to help the mentally impaired child."

Ron smacked his brother, which was the start of a bitch-slapping war, only to be ended by a swift kick from Charlie to both. "Haven't you learned _anything_? Never fight inside the house, mum'll be on a rampage quicker than you can say 'Weasley Wizards Wheezes'."

But Mrs. Weasley paid her boys no attention as she fussed over protectively around Sirius. "I'm glad you're back, dear." She wiped a tear as she became over-emotional and threw herself at him in a bear hug. Sirius struggled in shock for a moment before hugging the older woman back and awkwardly patting her on the back.

"Thanks, Molly. I appreciate everything, really."

Hermione smirked as she zoned out of Ron and Bill's not so engaging conversation about the Ministry and thought, _He's such a good little boy when he's around all these people. If only they knew what kind of _animal_ he was in bed…_

"'Mione? Space-out much? Bloody hell, woman, we were talking to you!" the Charms teacher snapped out of her reverie to fine her old classmate glaring at her slightly but not really angry. "Oh Ron, shut it. There were countless times you didn't pay attention to a damn thing I had to say." She glared back, her brown eyes standing out of her pale face threateningly. Before an actual argument could commence, Sirius snuck from Mrs. Weasley's smothering of him and whisked Hermione away by wrapping an arm casually around her waist and leading her to the dining room. Ron's blue eyes narrowed slightly at this, not favoring the simple act of comfort one bit. Sirius wouldn't be good for Hermione – she was fragile after what happened to her in the War, and Sirius was young again and as attractive as ever. Girls would be fawning over him, and he would _not_ have his best friend in the sack just because of some asinine de-aging spell. She deserved better than that.

Harry followed Ron's eyes and saw what he was staring so avidly at. In a moment of instinct, he turned to Remus who was whispering covertly to Tonks and smirking in the direction of the recently departed couple. It clicked in an instant that something was going on between the two, and it was more perplexing than any other thing either of the two had done before. Sirius Black – his godfather – and Hermione Granger – his companion and school mate – in _love_?

And that, my friends, proves how very different Miss Granger's two best friends were. The first let his quick temper take over in thoughts of over-protectiveness, while the raven-haired one would depict and try to understand.

In the dining room, Hermione and Sirius were continuously glancing at each other flirtatiously, finding it hard to be outside of school and remain under such vast control. Hermione was taking small sensuous bites from a strawberry in her fingers as Sirius watched with a hungry gaze. He couldn't get enough of that woman… she had changed so much; he found it hard to remember the bushy-haired know it all that rescued him in her third year of schooling. The night that he had met her he never would have pictured her to be the beautiful brunette she was now, teasing him as her tongue did naughty things to the immensely lucky fruit.

Replying in his own teasing manner, Sirius yawned to show that he was not completely in a trance of her mouth and stretched his arms above his head, knowing that his tight dark grey t-shirt would rise up alluringly. He knew she couldn't resist the 'v' his pelvic bones would create beneath his toned stomach.

Mouth still slightly open and strawberry now forgotten upon her lips, Hermione stared blatantly until someone entered the room. The two secret lovers recovered as Hermione quickly shoved the rest of the red food into her mouth as Sirius jerked his arms down and scratched his leg very… um, _in_conspicuously.

Vibrant green eyes bright with well-hidden laughter watched the two of them curiously. "What are you guys doing in here, huh? This party is for you, after all, Sirius. No need to hide in here, you're a free man now." The young Auror, now the spitting image of his father at the time he was born, smirked, reminding Sirius vividly of James. The pain came right along with the memories, and Sirius pushed it away to let the happiness of the times settle over him. It was what Prongs would have wanted…

"Quite right, Harry… I guess I'll be getting right out there, now…" Sirius looked longingly at Hermione for a moment out of habit (at school she was always so busy with classes, it was hours before they would see each other again and longing looks were very habitual), and turned towards the door.

"Oh, by the way, I'm happy you're together," Harry smiled again, causing two of his closest friends to stutter incoherently.

"We're-"

"How did-"

Harry laughed, "Oh calm yourselves. It was a hunch. I'm an Auror now, I'm getting better at picking up these things."

_Not to mention you killed the greatest Dark Lord of our time, meaning you must be a little more intelligent than the average bear…_ Sirius thought, bitter at the idea of his godson growing up too fast. Faster, even than he had himself.

Hermione smiled at Harry, and rushed to give him a hug, chestnut waves flowing behind her catchingly. "You always understand, Harry. I love you so much," she hugged him again, and Harry chuckled. "What did you expect me to do? You both mean so much to me, and if you find happiness together, then so be it."

"Good man, Harry," Sirius clapped him on the back and added in an undertone with a smirk, "Just keep it quiet for a few more hours. Me and 'Mione here are gonna try and shock ol' Molly to the point of despising me again."

-----------------

Dinnertime rolled around and Sirius became a little bit anxious. Pretty soon he and Hermione would be exposing their relationship to the Weasley clan. _And_, Molly Weasley's extremely overprotective feelings towards Hermione, a sort of daughter to her. Oh joy.

They conveniently chose seats next to each other (it wouldn't be any good exposing a secret relationship when you're sitting nowhere near each other at the climax) and gripped hands under the table for a moment for strength. Hermione knew Ron would overreact – he was so Goddam protective of her. Molly would be very displeased, and she knew the rest of the Weasley's (which included newly arrived Ginny and Draco) would be in a righteous stage of shock.

Molly sat at one end of the long table that was placed in the dining room of the Weasley's home, despite the fact that the sky was blue and it was a surprisingly warm day, to the joy of everyone present. Arthur sat at the other end, Ginny sat next to her mother, with Draco on her other side. Harry sat next to him (the two had become… oh, lets say, 'tolerant friends' of the sort, to the point where they could converse and even -_gasp-_ joke) and then Percy, his girlfriend (Penelope Clearwater), and Bill. On the other side, Sirius was in between Molly and Hermione, then Charlie, Fred, George, and Ron sat. Sirius was just pleased to be out of range of the very hot-tempered red headed friend in the best physical form of his life, but very frightened to be near also hot-tempered Molly.

After the anarchy that Fred and George caused with the enchanted cooked turkey (which did a select couple trademark moves of Michael Jackson, with very dirty crotch grabbing involved, much to Mrs. Weasley's horror and Sirius' delight) the meal went relatively smoothly. Until, Sirius cleared his throat and received the blindingly red headed attention he requested.

"Um… first of all, I'd like to tell all of you that I'm really happy that you did this for me. It means a lot, and I didn't expect it."

"Well, damn, Black, you make it sound like we threw you into the bloody veil ourselves. We missed you, you old bloke, and we're damn pleased that you're back," George smiled brazenly and raised his glass in respect. Sirius had the courtesy to blush, but continued. "Thanks George. But… that's not all I wanted to tell you. I… well, me and… someone…"

Hermione interrupted him, getting bored of his incessant stuttering. "_We_," she supplied, and left the rest up to him. "Yes, we – Hermione and I – we're a… couple. Together, you see…" Remus could hardly contain his laughter at seeing badass Padfoot wring his hands nervously and stare at the checkered tablecloth because he was dating some girl. _Things really can change_, Remus mused.

Remus' amused thoughts were interrupted seconds later as Molly and Ron screeched in shock, hurting his heightened senses drastically.

"SIRIUS LEE BLACK!" Harry snickered at Molly's use of his godfather's full name, as did Malfoy.

"YOU RANDY OLD PERVERT!" Ron bellowed as he stood up, knocking his chair over backwards. Talk about rage much.

Sirius winced, and prepared for more yelling, and maybe, a few whacks up his shiny haired head. Charlie and Bill were staring open mouthed at Hermione, as if she were incapable of anything as absurd at having a relationship with Sirius. They did, after all, know her the least of all the Weasleys. Ginny was laughing hysterically, mostly because she was the one Hermione always spoke with on her jumbled feelings towards Sirius…. The way he aggravated her so, made her laugh heartily and cheered her up with his compassion towards his friends, but also disappointed her with his immaturity. Obviously things had changed, or Hermione was just head over heels in love and not giving a damn… _Should have seen it coming…_ Draco was so unaffected by the sudden revelation that he and Harry had started a polite conversation about Quidditch, which made Ron only yell more.

"BLOODY HELL, HARRY! DON'T YOU CARE? CAN'T YOU CONTROL HIM?" Harry ignored him and continued his chitchat.

Remus and Tonks politely chuckled at the varied responses of their closest friends.

"-SEX, THAT'S WHAT THEY'RE HAVING-"

Fred and George were saying things like, "Good catch, Sirius. Points for looks, brains, and age, I'd say…" and, "Never thought Hermione went for the older men, but I suppose we can't blame her for wanting someone a tad more experienced after her horrid encounter with clumsy Ronald here…"

"-HALF YOUR AGE! SCANDOLOUS, ABSOLUTELY SCANDOL-"

"Now now, Molly, calm down, I'm sure the kids have their reasons, and it is their choice, isn't it?"

"Oh let Granger alone! I have to agree with Fred – after her - I'm sure – _revolting_ experience with the Reject Weasley, here, how could she not want someone of Sirius' stature and skill?"

"Um, thanks, Draco…" Sirius gave a small chuckle and Draco nodded briefly in acknowledgement.

Hermione, very disgusted at everyone's behavior, placed her head in her hands briefly, before she stood up abruptly, her chair joining Ron's on the floor. Sirius followed her, and neither were seen leaving since everyone else was having their own separate arguments and yells of disbelief.

They retreated to the solitude of the kitchen, and Hermione wrapped her arms around herself. She was very obviously upset, and Sirius didn't like to see her like that. He quickly put his arms around her waist, pulling her close so that her head rested on his chest. "What's wrong, love?"

She pulled back slightly, staring at him in shock. "What's _wrong_? Did you not _see_ how they were behaving? It was appalling! They didn't even think about the fact that we could be happy together! That this isn't some bloody fuck-and-leave relationship! Didn't think about how I need you, how you keep me going… That we're in _love_." Sirius 'shh'ed her gently, whispering comforting things and kissing her on the top of the head before saying, "If they hadn't thought it before, I'm pretty sure they do now. "

She looked up at him again, confusion shown in her clever brown eyes. "Listen," was all he said as he motioned to the dining room door. Complete silence was heard from the other side of the door, causing the brunette to gasp. "They_ heard _me?"

"I'm guessing so."

"Oh, _shit_."

On the other side of the door, Fred and George could practically _taste_ the need for a distraction. Poor Sirius and Hermione, everyone had overheard their conversation and were probably rightfully embarrassed right now. Nothing like a little mischief to take all the spotlight off of them. George grinned wickedly as he turned towards Percy, an evil glint in his hazel eyes. Percy always was the most fun to pick on… A quick curse transfigured the former Head Boy's entire left arm into that of a chicken's wing, feathers and all.

He stopped staring placidly at the dining room door like the rest of the room's occupants, and instead uttered a frightened shriek and fell from his chair. Everyone jumped and turned to catch the red hair fall out of their sight beneath the table.

"Loved the yelp, Perce. Very manly and Gryffindor-ish." Fred stuck his head underneath the table and grinned as Penelope Clearwater struggled to hold in her giggles at her boyfriend's bad luck.

"Do you think if we transfigure his other arm, he'd manage to fly?' George smirked at his twin, making them look truly identical.

"It's worth a shot."

---------------

A/N: Sorry it's short, but next chapter I promise to finally tell just _what_ exactly Hermione experienced in the War, and there will be drama from Sirius' reaction. Oh, and there will be no more songs anymore, guys! Lol, sorry, I just had to add them in, but I'm done now, I promise. Please review, as always!


	6. More Than You Know

**I Want the Fire Back**

**Summary:** Hermione is obsolete – the War is over, Harry and Ron are busy, and she the mere Charms teacher at Hogwarts. When a presumably dead man comes back better than ever, she suddenly means everything... to him. SiHr

**Rating:** R for language, themes, sex, and whatever else may come out of my twisted little mind.

**Disclaimer:** It's not me who owns these characters or any plots associated with the Harry Potter books.

**Chapter 6: More Than You Know**

"That was probably one of _the_ most interesting dinners I've had for a long time, mate. Thanks for the entertainment," Draco smiled at Sirius as he and Ginny made to apparate back to their flat. The flat that they shared… Which had been revealed the previous year at _another_ most dramatic dinner.

"No problem, kid," Black grinned impishly as his younger cousin vanished with a _pop!_ along with his redheaded vixen.

Hermione remained quietly embarrassed the rest of the evening, and was now eager to return to Hogwarts.

Sirius noticed this and spoke his goodbyes quickly. Hermione did the same, quietly whispering a thanks to Fred and George for the distraction, to which they both wore identical smirks.

They flooed back to Hogwarts (you could _not_ apparate on Hogwarts grounds, as we all know) and entered Hermione's room, which Crookshanks quickly darted out of in search of Mrs. Norris. Crookshanks loved to annoy the older blasphemous cat, much to Sirius' delight.

Hermione flopped face first on her still made bed and groaned loudly. Sirius raised and eyebrow and laughed. "Tough night?" Her response was a badly aimed pillow, which bounced off the wall next to him.

"Don't fret, love, they'll get used to it. They all care too much about you to be upset – they were just shocked, is all," he sat down next to her sprawled form on the bed and began rubbing her shoulders soothingly. _Damn those hands_, Hermione thought as she moaned into the pillow. She began to drift back into her thoughts about the evening, and the _real_ reason Ron was so upset. He was worried that she would get hurt by Sirius, yes, but also that that happening would damage her entire hope of a relationship with someone she loved. He believed her… _fragile_ after what happened during the War. The night of the last battle… When she was held captive by Death Eaters. But if nothing, that had made her stronger, more callous, not fragile. For months afterwards, her body was numb to the touch of anyone… she didn't care – her body was not hers to protect. It didn't matter. It was _theirs_… they had used it, and made it belong to them. It wasn't hers anymore.

And it was time to tell Sirius this. But not only that, but also that he made her feel her body once again… made her be aware of his touch, and how it could be so gentle and pleasing… He gave her the ability to _touch_ again, the ability to _feel._

He was still massaging her shoulders when she pulled her head up from the depths of the comfortable mattress to meet his eyes. His face was innocent for the moment, and curious. He could tell she had something to say… he always could.

"Er…" was all she said as she sat up completely, causing Sirius to stop massaging. He frowned lightly, expecting that the conversation about to occur wouldn't be pleasant.

"'Mione?" his voice seemed like a whimper, alike to a dog in fear of something luminous and terrible.

She realized that he didn't have any idea of what was about to become common knowledge to him.

She placed her hand on his thigh in an action of comfort, and spoke softly.

"You're unaware of some details of the War…"

-----------------

After Hermione began, she didn't realize how hard it would be to stop. She told him in great detail, even greater than she had told the Aurors and Harry and Ron and Dumbledore – told him how Lucius Malfoy had raped her repeatedly. How Peter Pettigrew had tried to – countless times – but couldn't succeed. Instead, he blamed her for his incompetence, and beat her to the point of death. She spoke of how her mind had almost broken, but she let her mind and body separate, so that she could no longer feel the filthy creatures violating her. Then how, later that night, Harry, Ron, Draco, Ginny and the rest of the Order had barged in. She left out the part of Harry dueling Voldemort, Ron taking down a few Death Eaters, and Ginny healing the wounded Aurors, for Sirius already knew this. Instead, she recalled how Draco had came in to see her lying motionless of the floor as his own _father_ beat her and took advantage of her body. He had been enraged, and within moments Lucius Malfoy lay dead on the floor, pants around his ankles, by the hand of his one and only son. She seemed to awaken at this moment and joined the battle, hate and anger fueling her. Surprisingly, she was not after Lucius' or Pettigrew's blood. She hated them, yes, but they had only hurt her physically. She wanted Bellatrix. The one who had caused _her_ emotional pain.

And she got her. Sprawled across the floor next to her feet, her wand casting Crucio repetitively, as if she had done the spell her whole life.

She lifted the curse, and watched calmly as Bellatrix dribbled blood from her mouth and nose. Then she became as much a murderer as any person who wanted righteous vengeance could be.

Sirius was not at a loss of words by the end of her tale, as shocked as he was. He looked over the fact that she had avenged his death and not her own contravention, and instead focused on Wormtail. He had touched her, _hurt_ her, in the most disgusting and profane ways one could ever dream of. And he was still _alive._

"He will not get away with this," Sirius spoke in a deadly tranquil voice, standing abruptly. Hermione looked up, confused.

"Who?"

"Wormtail. Peter Pettigrew has lived long enough!" his anger finally shone through as his voice rose, and he strode towards the door.

"Sirius! Stop! He's in Azkaban! You can't-" she pleaded, her voice high and worried. He would not do anything drastic enough to land him back in prison – not after he had just came back from the dead.

He was already in the hall, running as fast as he possibly could to Dumbledore's office. He was meaning to floo to Azkaban. And kill the bastard that had ruined his entire life. _No, not his entire life. Only his youth – he still has the rest of his life. And he will not screw that up just because of something that happened to me a year ago. _

Determined as much as any Gryffindor could be, she darted out the still open door to stop the man she loved from destroying the rest his life. A life he would spend with _her,_ _not_ in some damn prison.

She could hear his feet hitting the floor fervently as he ran, and she struggled to catch up, wishing her legs were as extensive and strong as his, but to no avail.

She turned the last corner just in time to see the gargoyle statue of Dumbledore's office entrance retreat back into place.

"Fuck!" she screamed the scream of a desperate woman as she came upon the statue and yelled the password. She knew Sirius well enough that he was capable of doing what he wanted to do. He _could_ accomplish the murder of Peter Pettigrew tonight.

But he wouldn't.

Praying that Dumbledore had been in his office at the moment of Sirius' entrance, preventing him from rash behavior, Hermione wrenched open the door and stumbled into the office to the sight of Sirius holding floo powder in one hand and speaking, "Azka-"

Without taking the time to yell out a much-needed dramatic "No!", Hermione Granger launched herself across the room and onto Sirius, knocking him to the floor before he could finish the word.

"Get off of me!" he screamed in blind anger, kicking like a three year old having a tantrum.

"No, Sirius! You can't get into Azkaban with your wand, anyways. You won't make it past the guards!"

Neither seemed to remember he was an unregistered Animagus (he could easily hide his wand as Snuffles) as he replied, "I don't need a wand to rip that fucker's throat out."

"No! You're not a murderer, Sirius! And you won't become one just for my sake!" she pressed her body tighter against his, taking his half-hearted blows and hoping he would not remember how easily he could discard her from on top of him.

"He doesn't deserve to live! I'm going to kill that bastard! He _will_ die." Sirius spoke the last words with a sadistic smile that made Hermione wince.

"I'm afraid that you won't be killing Mr. Pettigrew tonight, Mr. Black."

The struggling couple turned to see the owner of the office standing in the doorway, looking quite upset. Sirius finally succeeded in shoving Hermione off of him, and stood up to his full height. "Are you going to stop me?"

Hermione wanted to slap him for those words. How _dare_ he speak that way to Professor Dumbledore – after all, the man was just trying to prevent him from doing anything foolish.

Dumbledore, of course, did not seem the least bit frightened as Sirius slightly raised his wand, ready to protect the task he was going to accomplish. The Headmaster looked placid as he said, "Peter Pettigrew was found dead in his cell tonight. His insanity drove him to the point of starvation and resulted in hallucinations. It is reported that he often screamed things along the lines of, "No, Padfoot! Prongs, Lily, stop him! I'm sorry!" and cowered in the room's corner. He died a death of much suffering after throwing himself against the bars numerous times to escape the phantoms that haunted him." Here Dumbledore paused, and his former students knew that it was hard for him to speak of someone he had once believed so greatly in in such a manner.

"If you'd excuse me, I'd like to spend a little time alone tonight. I have things to attend to," Dumbledore offered an exhausted ghost of a smile making the other two leave the room.

Sirius felt so utterly ashamed he could barely raise his eyes to meet Hermione's. But when he did accomplish this very difficult task, he was rewarded with Hermione's hand slapping him across the face.

Too shocked for a verbal yell of surprise, he gaped at her, only to see her sobbing, head in her hands.

"I hate you! I hate you so Goddam much!" she pounded on his chest for a few moments as he let her, then heaved a loud sob and pressed her face to it, crying.

He stroked her hair, confused beyond belief but patient enough for her to explain.

"I could have lost you! You didn't even think about the consequences! If he hadn't been dead…" she trailed off, wiping her eyes now and glaring at him. He said nothing, watching her with black eyes.

"Bastard," she spat, her brown eyes flashing angrily as she kicked him in the leg and stomped away.

He heaved a great sigh and began walking _very_ slowly after her. _Flowers aren't a good enough apology for something like this. Candy? No, too immature… dinner? No, too long until another dinner. Ah, breakfast in bed! And of course my puppy dog face and insistent irresistible kisses along the neck…_

Quite pleased with himself at his sure plan and his anger at his now dead friend faded to a contentness he hadn't felt in years, Sirius risked a small smile.

After all, in a way, Peter Pettigrew died not by the _hands_ of Sirius Black, but by the even stronger _memory_ of him.

-----------------

A/N: Sorry it's short again, next chapter'll be longer, I promise! Please read and review!


	7. A Faery Tale

**I Want the Fire Back**

**Summary:** Hermione is obsolete – the War is over, Harry and Ron are busy, and she the mere Charms teacher at Hogwarts. When a presumably dead man comes back better than ever, she suddenly means everything... to him. SiHr

**Rating:** R for language, themes, sex, and whatever else may come out of my twisted little mind.

**Disclaimer:** It's not me who owns these characters or any plots associated with the Harry Potter books.

**Warning: **In this chapter there will be fluff! And Sirius singing/dancing in naught but a towel! Hmm…

**Chapter 7: A Faery Tale**

Sirius opened his eyes groggily, events of the previous night coming back to him in bits and pieces. Peter's death… His anger… Hermione's past… _Hermione's_ anger. _Oh shit. Breakfast – I was going to make her breakfast._

Swinging his legs over the edge of the bed, Sirius fought through the pile of clothes on the floor, searching for a pair of pants. When he finally succeeded in dressing, he exited his quarters and walked down to the kitchens to get his beloved some breakfast. Maybe he could convince her he had cooked it? Nah, too risky… the food would taste/look/smell way too pleasant to be any of his doing.

He grabbed a tray once in the kitchen and asked for some pancakes and bacon, enough for one. If he had said enough for two, he could have very well ended up with enough for 25, so he kept it at one.

Walking back up to their floor, he came to her door and spoke Hermione's password, entering her living space quietly. Who knows, that woman could already be up at this early hour.

Peeking into her bedroom, he saw that indeed she was up, but she was in the shower. Her pajamas lay in a heap near the bathroom door, and he could hear water running.

"Score," Sirius murmured as he set the tray on the unmade bed and flopped down next to it, wincing as he almost spilt a glass of orange juice.

"I'm such a fatass," he giggled benignly about himself. He was excited to make things up to Hermione – he hated having her mad at him, although she had every right to be angry.

Sirius was quite shocked when Hermione came out of the bathroom, considering the water was still going and all. She looked quite angry, though, when she saw him sprawled on her bed, and maybe also because she was stark naked. And she knew Sirius would be upon her in an instant, and she also knew that she wouldn't be able to resist his urgent kisses.

The raven-haired man raised a dark eyebrow and smirked as the blushing brunette folded her arms over herself shyly, "I brought you breakfast." It was obvious Hermione had not yet showered as her hair and body were still dry, perhaps she had forgotten some important necessity she needed to shower with out here in the bedroom.

Sirius stood up and began approaching her, like an animal cornering its prey. "But that can wait until later," and before Hermione could protest, her lover's lips had attacked her own, silencing any foreboding words she had been about to voice.

The kiss was long and hot, each alighting the skin of the other. Slightly ignorantly, Sirius removed his mouth from Hermione's to move down to her neck, leaving her free to speak once again. He began lightly sucking on her sensitive flesh, and she moaned quietly before realizing that he was merely charming her. _Bastard._

She pulled away, prepared to say a few spiteful phrases, but saw his pouty lips bruised from the kiss and black hair hanging in front of his ebony eyes and decided to be a little nicer.

"I'm mad at you," she pouted.

_Damn._ Sirius hated the fact that Hermione could not be swayed as easily as other girls, but he also loved her for it. She was so strong, intelligent – perfect.

"And I'm eternally sorry – really, I am," he added at her dubious look. "I'm apologizing because I'm sorry – not because I want you to forgive me."

Hermione pondered his words for a moment, and was shocked to realize just how much sense they made. She recalled how she had frequently apologized to Ron after she had broken up with him, hoping they could regain their friendship like before. Now when she thought about it, she didn't know if she had apologized for her sake or his. She certainly wasn't sorry for getting out of that relationship – it had been a downward spiral from the beginning, only getting worse as things progressed.

She offered her current (and much, _much_ better) lover a compliant smile, "You still have to make it up to me."

She squealed as he responding by picking her up in his arms and carrying her back into the bathroom, saying, "We can talk over the details in the shower."

-----------------

Hermione exited the bathroom an hour later, much more refreshed than her earlier planned shower could have left her. She had left Sirius to get his own scattered clothes on and began a search through her drawers for a suitable outfit.

She heard the bathroom door open and turned to Sirius to ask him what shirt she should wear when she noticed his attire. Her favorite white cotton towel was slung low on his hips, his cherished 'v' very visible, along with his lean abs and chest. _Perfection…_

What added to the adorability of the situation was the fact that he was singing a slightly off-key version of a muggle song Hermione grew up listening to. It was 'Good' by _Better Than Ezra,_ an all time favorite of hers.

A giggle escaped her mouth as Sirius began swaying to his own music, the towel slipping precariously low on his hips with each movement. A sudden question jumped into Hermione's mind, and she looked at Sirius inquiringly.

"How do you know that song?"

The beautiful man stopped his singing, towel barely attached, and answered her. "Your muggle things… CBs, or whatever?"

She had taught him how to listen to her charmed portable CD player a few weeks ago, and it immediately delighted him to no end. "Oh, my CDs?" he nodded wordlessly and pouted at her soon after.

Almost afraid of what her answer would be, she spoke. "What?"

"My clothes are all damp and hot from being in the bathroom during our shower." His pout deepened, and she rolled her eyes.

"So? Dry them!"

His eyes glinted mischievously for a moment, and he pouted again. "I don't have my wand," he shrugged. "I guess I'll just have to walk around in my birthday suit, for a bit then, hmm?" He dropped the cotton towel completely off of his form, revealing everything God had given him. More like, _gifted_ him with. Jesus, that man... _sigh._

Hermione turned scarlet and gave in to her first instinct of turning away. That is, until, out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sirius wander aimlessly into her small kitchen, butt-naked.

"What are you doing in there, Black? I _eat_ in there!"

"Oh then I guess I'll just have to sit on your kitchen table then, won't I?"

Hermione raced after him, shouting, "You wouldn't _dare_."

Sirius, arse placed just above the surface of the table, cocked his head to the side and observed her for a moment. And then burst out laughing.

She too observed herself, and then him, and joined him in laughing. "We certainly look like a bunch of right idiots, don't we?"

Hermione was clothed in her blue jeans and a bra, and Sirius – well, we all know what Sirius _wasn't_ clothed in. (Mainly because you've been trying to conjure that image up and burn it into your brain permanently)

When recovered, Hermione smiled and said, "Oh, get your arse away from my table and come eat this cold breakfast with me."

All the man could do was obey.

-----------------

That Sunday was a Hogsmeade day, so Sirius and Hermione accompanied the students on the trip to act as chaperones. The students thought of Sirius as Professor Black, their substitute for Professor Lupin on bad time of the month days. Hah, Remus sounded like he had bloody horrid PMS. Dumbledore had offered Sirius the position to help him get his life back on track, and, more importantly, save the first years from two classes with Professor Snape.

Since no students knew of the Black/Granger escapade of romance, they had to refrain from acting involved around them.

Hermione and Sirius walked close to each other, but not suspiciously close. After passing numerous shops, Sirius finally managed to tug Hermione into the Quidditch shop, a hungry look upon his handsome features. She laughed but let herself be dragged anyways. Besides, she would soon be pulling him into the bookshop, and she very much doubted he wanted to go in there.

She half-listened as Sirius spoke of how much better brooms were now than when he was in school, and that kids should be very happy with what they had.

Smiling, she said, "Now you sound more your age."

Sirius glared at her for a moment, and said, "Bite me."

He didn't expect her to casually look around and make sure no students were present, and bite him quite painfully on the arm.

He laughed, "Okay, I can see you're getting a little bored with this store. Now where would you like to go next?" Sirius pulled the door open for her, and she looked falsely thoughtful for a moment.

"Oh… Well, I was thinking about visiting the bookshop-," she stopped at his very astute glare.

"What?" she cried, placing her hands on her hips.

"Your room is full of books. Why do you need more?"

"Because I've read all those," she spoke heatedly.

"Fine, fine, off to the book place," Sirius sighed and began walking towards the building, Hermione glowering at his back. She would not let the subject drop easily, though.

"I'm _sorry _that I'm not like all the other girls, trying frantically to drag their boyfriends into Madam Malkin's and watch them try on sleazy dresses and robes, looking for appraisal and-" the fuming young woman stopped suddenly as they walked by the aforementioned store's window and something absolutely gorgeous caught her eye.

"We're going in here," she spoke as if memorized by what she saw, and was inside the store within moments, leaving a bewildered Sirius outside.

"Bloody women and their bloody mood swings…" he mumbled as he faithfully trudged after the woman of his dreams.

By the time Sirius entered Hermione already had the Madam holding up a stunning dress against her body, and both were murmuring about the color clashing with Hermione's hair.

"Do you have it in… green, maybe? A pale green?" Madam Malkin nodded and scurried off to the back of the store to fetch it.

Sirius was fiddling idly with a price tag on a rather expensive dress, before looking around covertly for any signs of anyone watching him. Hermione was busy with her dress, the Madam had still not returned and the other patrons were rather far away.

Pulling out his wand, he altered the price on the tag to read 36 Galleons instead of 599. Afterwards he quickly pocketed the piece of mischief-making wood and grinned to himself. That's what the world gets for boring Sirius Lee Black.

The woman had returned with Hermione's requested dress, and Sirius found himself astounded at how well the color complimented his love's skin and hair.

"Oh, try it on dear," Malkin pointed to the dressing rooms, "Holding it up is doing neither of you the justice you deserve."

Sirius restrained himself from looking guilty when the Madam turned around to beam at him, pleased with her expectations of the dress. He smiled politely back, and wondering absentmindedly if the woman suspected a relationship between the two of them.

As Hermione slipped on the dress, she hoped that if she chose to purchase it for the Halloween Ball the other teachers would not frown on its meager amount of material. She was a teacher, too, now and had to look respectable… But, oh, fuck it, she looked so damn good in it, and after she added a pair of shiny wings, glittering makeup, and flowers braided into her planned to be ringlets of hair, it would be flawless.

She came out after a few minutes, and Sirius' mouth fell from its respectable position to a much lower one. His woman was clad in a form fitting pale green dress. It was strapless, with a few sequins sewn into the bust of the garment. It was short, especially for the modest Hermione – it came down right above her knees, where the three layers of lacy green skirts fell in a fashionable shredded style. It looked very much like that of a faerie dress. That along with Hermione's long brown waves of hair, naturally pretty chestnut eyes and pink cheeks, added a startling alikeness to the mystical creature.

Sirius gaped a moment more, before finding his tongue. "You're buying that."

Hermione raised her eyebrow at the very obvious command, and Sirius corrected himself. "If you want to – but if you don't, _I'll _buy it and _make_ you wear it."

Hermione laughed, a pretty laugh that suited her, and Sirius was once again amazed at how she handled life. She had survived the horrors of the previous year, and recovered so vastly that she became the smart, beautiful, successful witch that she now was. And here _he_ was - survived 13 years of hell on earth, 2 years of running from authorities, and an additional 5 years in a hell dimension – smiling and grinning like an idiot at the beautiful woman he called his.

Fate could not destroy them, or the future they would build. They were stronger than that individually, and especially together. Love was fragile – breakable, honest – but it was also the most powerful human emotion. Love was immune to prejudice, jealousy, grudge, and history. It is a story in its own, an adventure by itself, a tale to live through and tell. It is unexpected, not found when searched for, and usually in the strangest places that you never looked twice in.

It was, to be simply said, beautiful.

-----------------

**A/N: **There! Another chapter, complete with fluff and such. And, a song was _mentioned_, but I did not put the lyrics in there. Happy? Lol. Oh, but if you know the song, _do_ try and imagine Siri-boy singing it! Oh, it's grand. And if you _want_ to hear it and imagine him singing it, go to CDzlimited.com, search for Better Than Ezra, and listen to Good for free! I guarentee it's worth it. Review, please!


	8. Samhain

**I Want the Fire Back**

**Summary:** Hermione is obsolete – the War is over, Harry and Ron are busy, and she the mere Charms teacher at Hogwarts. When a presumably dead man comes back better than ever, she suddenly means everything... to him. SiHr

**Rating:** R for language, themes, sex, and whatever else may come out of my twisted little mind.

**Disclaimer:** It's not me who owns these characters or any plots associated with the Harry Potter books.

**Chapter 8: Samhain **

Hermione was ready – dress, hair, make-up, wings – all in perfect ensemble. Her eyes were lined in a bright silver liner, clashing beautifully with her brown eyes. The silver faded to a shimmering green that went back to her hairline, and the rest of her face and body (_entire_ body) was coated in a very light silver sheen. Her wings were a dark forest green, also glittery. To account for her short dress, Hermione was wearing a pair of green boots that laced up her leg daintily, adding a strong sense of feminism to her outfit. Every sodding ray of light seemed to be bouncing off of her plentiful amount of glitter and shine, causing her to look even more angelic to Sirius.

At a loss for words at her beauty, he soundlessly stepped towards her and pulled a necklace out of his pocket as Hermione gasped in surprise.

It was a small silver faerie dangling on a black satin ribbon and silver chain. It accented Hermione's slender neck and added to the further affect of her costume.

She grinned in thanks and hugged him, neither seeming to think that any words were necessary. After the hug, Hermione pulled back to now observe Sirius' attire for the night.

When he had said rock star, he sure had meant it. He was clad in a pair of leather pants (_not_ grotesquely tight like _some_ men wear) and a black sleeveless shirt held together by safety pins. His blacker than the depths of hell hair was mussed up wildly so that his right earring was, for the first time since received, visible. The tiny flame leapt around the silver holding it in place, perhaps in response to Sirius' high emotions at the moment. On top of that, he was wearing a pair of black boots and a vast amount of black jewelry on his wrists and neck. But it was the next style change that really caught Hermione's eye (and her breath in her throat) – his dark eyes were lined in black eyeliner, making them appear more fathomless than ever thought possible.

She lightly brushed a lock of shiny hair away from his eye, making him shudder. They were quite the couple that night – Hermione light and flowing in her faerie costume, and Sirius dark and alluring in his costume.

"Let's go then, shall we?" he placed his arm out for her to hold onto, which she complied to easily. Tonight should be interesting – two professors had not come to a ball together in ages, and it was sure to prove direly interesting to the gossiping students. Especially when that gossip concerned the two most attractive people in Hogwarts – teachers or not.

Remus had been granted special permission to have Tonks attend the dance, and the two were waiting for Hermione and Sirius in the hall outside of Hermione's rooms.

Remus was dressed as muggle football player and Tonks was an ecstatic cheerleader. Although football was very unpopular in England, the two found that reason to make the costumes even more unique.

Waving her blue and red pompons about, Tonks grinned cheekily. "Ready to go?"

Hermione nodded, giggling at the older woman's behavior, and the four began their journey to the Great Hall.

-----------------

Hermione was pleased to see that Sirius was a brilliant dancer – he wasn't clumsy or goofy looking like most guys she'd seen dance – he was elegant and energetic, and best of all, wild. His moves were unexpected but flowed together as if he had them all choreographed before his arrival. The charms teacher soon found herself barely able to keep up with him, and left Sirius and Remus together on the dance floor as she and Tonks went for refreshments.

Before she left, she had grinned at the two best friends – one maturing and older and one exuberantly young and crazy – and said, "He's all yours to grind with now, Lupin."

The light colored brunette stopped his much less graceful dancing than Sirius and stared at Hermione in shock through his football helmet as she walked away laughing.

Recovering quickly, Remus began his dancing again, now keeping a much safer distance between him and Sirius. "You have quite the girl, there, Padfoot."

"You've no bloody idea."

-----------------

Hermione and Tonks giggled companionably as they watched their lovers dance, so different, yet so similar. Their styles were different, yes – but the look of joy and carefree-ness was quite the same. They both seemed as if they had gone back in time to their own school days, back when Prongs would have been chatting up Lily somewhere, begging her to dance, and Peter would sulk in the corner because absolutely no one would dance with him. Padfoot would be arranging an order for the girls that had asked to accompany him in his own version of freak dancing, and Remus would be lost blissfully, forgetting for the moment of what he was.

Hermione burst out laughing as Remus quickly darted further away from Sirius, now completely aware of their close proximity and remembering Hermione's playful words. Her laughter soon died as she witnessed a few too-pretty-for-their-own-good seventh years take up position behind Sirius' gorgeous body, watching him greedily as his date was not anywhere near him.

"Wotcher, Hermione – you can't be getting in trouble for attacking your students now, can you? Even if it is over a boy like Sirius Lee."

Hermione blushed at the other woman's words, not having realized that her glare was so noticeable.

As if reading her thoughts, Tonks spoke up again, "It wasn't the death-stare that caught my attention at first – it was definitely the feral growling I heard."

Deciding to change the subject to avoid further embarrassment at Tonks' rather astute observation, Hermione voiced that they should rejoin the men back on the dance floor.

-----------------

_After the dance..._

"Hmmm, Sirius… Oh… Stop… _Stop_, you eager little git." Hermione managed to speak up through her moans of pleasure as the aforementioned man sucked on her neck and worked his way down to her bare collarbone, his fingers caressing the edge of her dress above her breasts.

He pulled away, eyeliner-surrounded eyes burning with passion and want, all cares of being discovered long forgotten.

"We can't do this in the hall… A student might walk by," she panted, still regaining her breath from a few moments before when he had shoved her roughly up against a wall and molested her mouth savagely.

He made a noise like a grunt and grabbed her hand brusquely, jerking her down the hall and to the direction of their rooms.

They arrived a few minutes later, and Sirius, unsure of what exactly had come over him - but also not really caring – threw Hermione onto his bed and straddled her legs, leaning down to capture her mouth once again. He was acting as if they had been apart for years… his need burned so intensely that Hermione gasped upon feeling it pressed against her.

His tongue moved inside of her mouth, exploring and claiming her sweet crevices as his. He ran his hands down her bare shoulders, basking in the touch of her soft skin at his fingertips. _God I love this dress…_

His hands continued sliding until they ventured to the zipper at the back of the garment, which he had undone in a matter of seconds. His kissing had once again moved to her very exposed neck, biting and sucking the flesh between his white teeth, knowing he would mark her as his if it was the last thing he did.

Hermione moaned and literally _tore_ off Sirius' safety-pinned shirt, eagerly running her hands over his taut chest as it loomed above her. She playfully bit one of his nipples, causing him to jump in surprise and the sudden jolt of pleasure. Smirking, he finally managed to get the dress off of her body and discarded it on the floor next to the bed. Hermione's hands shook with over-excitement as she struggled with the zipper of his pants, to which he batted her fingers away impatiently and de-pantsed himself.

Now clad only in boxers and she in a bra and panties, Sirius pushed them further up the bed, purposefully using his hips to further arouse her.

The woman moaned, knowing full well that she was wet and ready for him, and hoping to God that he would hurry.

He removed her scant remaining clothes and to her disappointment, remained in his boxers. He began teasing her nipples with his mouth, happy with the reactions he was receiving. His favorite was when she bucked her bare hips up to meet his clothed ones, causing them both to growl with hunger.

Finally fully unclothed, the two forged into one, panting from exertion and delight. Hermione bit her lip from screaming in pleasure so soon in their act, and Sirius' dark eyes rolled in enjoyment.

He brought his lips down impatiently upon hers, and his thoughts erased to be replaced with pure ecstasy.

When kissing her, there was no death. Lily and James were not his murdered friends.

When kissing him, there was no regret. The death of Bellatrix was a necessary act of revenge, not murder by her hand.

Kissing her, there was no thought of betrayal. He was not accused and convicted of a murder he would never commit.

Kissing him, there was no thought of loneliness. Her best friends had not drifted from her and moved on.

Kissing her, there were no missing five years. He had never been in hell.

Kissing him, there was no remembrance of rape. Lucius and Peter had never touched her.

Peter Pettigrew never existed.

Bushy hair and big teeth were never an issue.

Graduation day _was_ the start of a happy life.

Mudblood was not a common name.

Blood-traitor was not used consistently.

A best friend didn't sacrifice parents, friends, and a godfather because he was predestined.

Best friends weren't murdered because of a traitor.

Now, maybe you can have the slightest idea of why their kisses are so heated, so rash, so very much needed as if their very lives depend upon their eminence. Their very sanity stemmed from those kisses – their very happiness.

Now, maybe, you can see what it is like to not only be in love as Sirius Black and Hermione Granger were – but to see just why they _needed_ to be in love...

-----------------

A/N: It's not over! It may sound that way, but it's far from it. Okay? Okay. Short, but BITE ME. :) I've been updating VERY consistently, so just be patient and deal. Lol. Not to be bossy or anything.

You thought I made all of your dreams come true with Sirius being naked last chapter – but now, I've put him in eyeliner and leather. Oh my. Read and review please!


	9. Uncertainty Not for Long

**I Want the Fire Back**

**Summary:** Hermione is obsolete – the War is over, Harry and Ron are busy, and she the mere Charms teacher at Hogwarts. When a presumably dead man comes back better than ever, she suddenly means everything... to him. SiHr

**Rating:** R for language, themes, sex, and whatever else may come out of my twisted little mind.

**Disclaimer:** It's not me who owns these characters or any plots associated with the Harry Potter books.

**Chapter 9: Uncertainty Not for Long **

Hermione gave a frustrated sigh as she sat in the comfortable red armchair of her living room. She was grading her 5th and 6th years 2 ½ foot essays they had to do on Appearance Charms (Dos and don'ts) and Self-Invisibility Charms (Safe – or could you disappear for good?). So far, she had graded half of the fifth years' papers. And they were due to be handed back fully graded the next day.

But, it just so happened, that as Hermione was frustrated – Sirius was horribly lonely. They had both been much busier than usual during the past week – Sirius was prepping lesson plans for the next full moon and Hermione was preparing her kids for a pre-Holidays exam she had planned. So, as it is obvious, they did not have very much one-on-one time with one another. And oh, how they _needed_ that one-on-one time.

Wrapping his arms around Hermione's overly tense shoulders from behind, Sirius whispered into her ear. "Want to take a walk with me?"

"Sirius," she began in an exasperated voice, "I have _loads_ of essays to correct-"

"I know, love," he unknowingly brushed a piece of hair away from an ink-spotted cheek, "You've been at it all day. I think you need a break-" she gave him an uncertain look, so he rushed on "- I'll even help when we get back here. I know I graduated a while ago, but I wasn't exactly horrible at Charms in my day."

His incessantly present smirk (so unlike Draco's _old_ smirk of superiority and insolence) graced his features and Hermione sighed, setting down her quill.

After all, Sirius Black always got his way with women. Well, most of the time… Alright, 99% of the time.

And off on a walk they went.

------------------

"Oh… damn you, Black… bloody… _stop_!" Hermione panted as Sirius kissed her neck, all the while unbuttoning her shirt and taking his kisses lower.

Minutes before, when the two frustrated lovers were on their rather innocent walk in the hall, Sirius pulled Hermione into an empty classroom to end his aggravation.

He momentarily pulled away from her collarbone, only very slightly, so that his hot breath still brushed against her skin, making her quiver. "Why? We won't get caught – I locked the door _and_ put a silencing charm on it."

But Hermione had no time for this – she had to get those damn essays done – not get it on in an unused classroom. Even if the person who wanted to get it on with her had those coal-like black eyes, boyish grin and dimples, full pouty lips, spectacular stomach…

No, no time for this at all –

The charms teacher emitted a particularly vociferous moan as Sirius succeeded in getting her shirt the rest of the way off. _Damn him…_

The cocky man pulled away from his ministrations to grin at the brown-eyed girl. "Knew you couldn't resist."

To this, Hermione usually would have chuckled at the typical arrogance, but something – her stress, maybe – caused quite an unexpected reaction. A reaction that led to one of her biggest fears being revealed by accident.

"Why do you this to me?" she cried suddenly, shoving him away and slamming herself against the wall in a futile attempt to increase their separation.

"'Mione, _what_ did I do?" Sirius gawked at her, pulling his hands away hurriedly, wondering how in the hell he had abruptly made her so upset.

She was breathing heavily now – perhaps not so much from the earlier fervent kissing – and was still pressed desperately against the wall, eyes downcast.

"Sodding hell, woman – _what's_ wrong?" Sirius gripped her shoulders urgently, causing her to meet his dark gaze.

"You… I can't…" she shook her head, moving her eyes down below his stare again.

"Tell me…" he was pleading, needing to know what made his woman suffer so. And the fact that it had to deal with him – well, all the better to find out what it was and fix it, hmm?

"I'm helpless," frightened brown eyes met darker confused ones. "When I'm around you, Sirius. I would give you anything at any price – as long as you're happy."

At first he wondered if this had to do with the walk he had begged for, but decided that this was deeper than that. Something that had graced her mind before today.

His expression darkened, "Is that so bad? I would do the same for you."

"No – no, Sirius. That's not what I meant. I mean… What I mean is…" he glared at her as she stumbled over her words, trying to chose carefully. "I – I've only been really weak one time. And that was that night with Pettigrew and Malfoy… and you – as well as you give me strength to live and fight, you also make me so, so scared…"

Sirius frowned. "What are you saying, Granger?" she flinched at the cold formality, but continued on at his request. "If I ever lost you, I wouldn't live, Sirius. I'm to the point where life without you, is not anywhere near what the tangible standard of living really is to me. I'm so bloody scared that something – someone – is going to take you away from me, and I'll be alone. I can't be alone." She finally raised her eyes to his own, which were widened slightly in astoundment. "I spent five years alone, Sirius. I can't take any more. I need to _know_ that you're here… you know, for good."

He raised a dark eyebrow in contemplation. _She thinks I'll leave her?_ _And doesn't she know that I've spent _twenty _years alone? After going through that, I sure don't want to endure any more..._

"Do you doubt my love?"

_Was he angry? _She could no longer tell what he was feeling – the infamous mask of inexpressiveness now covered him, shielding him from obvious hurt.

"No." her voice was strong, almost defiant to his close to insulting query.

"Then why do you fear my leaving you?"

"I didn't mean you would intentionally leave… I meant it… as if you died, Sirius. You've died once before. That was hard enough. Now, I couldn't…"

"How do you expect me to assure you that I won't die on you? Seems a bit impossible to me, 'Mione."

"I don't expect that – I know you can't promise that. I _said_ that I need to _know_ – and I do need to. But there's no way of me knowing… No certainty. About this, about anything in the future."

He realized now – she was frightened of the future. Of what was to come… Of all the things for the clever witch to fear, the future was certainly a wise one. Uncertainty was surely a frightening thing.

"Hermione, love – that's how life works. You just take it day by day, and hope it'll always be good. Well, you don't just have to hope… You fight. That's what we do – we fight for the future," he stroked her cheek, giving her a small smile.

"But what if the fighting destroys us?" Negative words, but as she spoke them, she leaned into his touch copiously, welcoming his warmth. He pondered for a moment, knowing that what he needed to say needed to be reassuring but at the same time genuine.

"I think it's tried – many times – with the both of us. But it hasn't really gotten much of anywhere, has it?"

------------------

The next morning Professor Granger was falling asleep at her desk during her third year Charms class with the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs. Sirius was doing practically the same thing in Lupin's Defense Against the Dark Arts class of Slytherins and Ravenclaws.

This was, primarily, because of the hours of hot passionate sex the two had had the preceding night, only to remember that Hermione had a considerable amount of papers left to grade, in which they began working on those. They had been lucky to get those 45 minutes of sleep they received.

As a student caught something on fire in the corner of Hermione's vision, Sirius was yelling at a Slytherin boy who had made a snarky comment about his haggard appearance this morning.

Ah, what a beautifully long, drug out day.

------------------

"Sleep," Hermione mumbled as she stumbled into her living quarters and collapsed onto the couch. Only to find herself on top of none other than Professor Black.

"_What_ are you doing on _my_ couch?" she glared, not really angry, but quite tired.

"Sleebin…" Sirius mumbled with his face pressed firmly against the cushion as a result of Hermione's weight.

"Oh _no_ you don't," Hermione growled, grabbing a blue pillow from the floor where it had been discarded and preceded to whack him in the perfectly straight black-haired head.

"Ipe!" Sirius yelped in surprise, and with his quick Marauders reflexes, extracted revenge. He grabbed another pillow, this one green and a little larger in size, and clobbered Hermione directly in the face with it.

"Ow! You git!" she thrashed out again but he managed to dodge it. Both were now fully awake and in full combat mode. Sirius dodged another swipe of the fluffy device of evil and threw his own to the side.

_Enough of this girly-girl fighting._ He tackled the shocked woman to the ground, a silent scream dead on her pink lips.

And that was when the tickling started.

"No, no… Sirius! SIRIUS! STOP! Oh… God…" Hermione could no longer protest as her giggling had became so intense that her pale face had turned a wonderful shade of Weasley red. She kicked frantically, hoping to get him off of her so that she could regain her breath and fight back properly again. But one of her feet decided that it didn't want any more of this fighting in any shape or form, and kicked Sirius directly in the groin.

"Eeee!" he wheezed, falling on top of the now still woman, who was silent in shock.

_Did I just _kick_ Sirius in the balls?_

"Are you-" wheeze "-bloody-" squeak "-_crazy_, woman?"

Hermione stifled a laugh and was about to declare her victory when a knock on her door sounded. Smirking triumphantly, she stood up, adjusted her disorderly robes whilst smirking at Sirius, and stepped over his body that was curled in the fetal position, to answer the door.

"Ah, 'Mione!" It was George – no, Fred – no, definitely George – and he was looking serious in an unfitting manner. "Sirius here?" he asked, curiously peeking his shaggy red head further into the room.

"Er, yeah, on the… floor." She trailed off as she realized how inappropriate that sounded, but George merely raised an eyebrow.

"Ah, well, excellent. If you two could please join Fred and I – he's off getting Lupin, by the way – then we have something you all need to see."

------------------

**A/N**: **_SO_** sorry it took me so long to update! And it's kind of short, but I'll be updating tomorrow, so be patient, please. I was staying at a friend's house and I had to study for exams. Oh, and don't forget – I had to dedicate one whole night to prepping myself for the Prisoner of Azkaban sneak preview movie. I saw it!

**_WARNING (SPOILER FOR PRISONER OF AZKABAN MOVIE, ONLY READ IF YOU'VE SEEN IT): _**Did you guys notice that when Sirius and Hermione got off of Buckbeak the hippogriff they held hands for quite a long time?! I was so thrilled, even though I'm completely aware that our strange romance will never actually happen (In Rowling's universe, that is). Even some lady behind me was like, "Why is Sirius holding Hermione's hand?" and I was so tempted to be like, "Cuz, bitch, they're in love!" but I decided that was much too ghetto sounding for me and it would have seemed very idiotic at the time.

**_END WARNING:_** Ok, now review please!


	10. Freckles and Such

**I Want the Fire Back**

**Summary:** Hermione is obsolete – the War is over, Harry and Ron are busy, and she the mere Charms teacher at Hogwarts. When a presumably dead man comes back better than ever, she suddenly means everything... to him. SiHr

**Rating:** R for language, themes, sex, and whatever else may come out of my twisted little mind.

**Disclaimer:** It's not me who owns these characters or any plots associated with the Harry Potter books.

**Chapter 10: Freckles and Such**

After George assisted Hermione in getting her beau off of the floor, they set out to their destination. Which was still unknown to Sirius and Hermione.

They stopped once in Dumbledore's office, where Fred was standing with an amused Remus, who had noticed where Sirius' hand was cupped. _Poor Padfoot… but it's not as though it's the first time._

"We're flooing somewhere," Hermione stated as the realization hit her.

"I always knew there was a reason you were the cleverest witch at Hogwarts, 'Mione," Fred smirked as he picked up a handful of floo powder and stepped towards the fireplace.

She threw him a playful glare as he winked and disappeared into the flames with a call of "The Burrow!" She wrapped an arm around Sirius' waist, hoping that he would see this a sign of truce. He glared at her for a moment, and whispered, "I will be getting you back for that, Granger. Count on it."

She just grinned as she stepped forward to follow where the other three had already gone.

------------------

Once all four of them had landed safely, Fred began to explain. With George, of course, interrupting when needed.

"Alright, mates – you're all here for a reason. Remus, you're just here because Tonks stopped by for dinner, and when she found out we were coming to get Sirius and 'Mione, she asked for you to tag along," Fred grinned and let George continue.

"Now the _reason_ this is happening… well, our dear little sister-"

"-Virginia, nice girl, I'm sure you've met her-"

"-stopped by with her boy Draco, and decided to give all of us a right little bit of news-"

"-which resulted in mum nearly having a heart attack, dad gripping his chair and staring blatantly at a wall for an excessive amount of time-"

-"Ron attempting to murder Draco, Charlie and Bill screaming at Ginny-"

"-and thank God Percy isn't here-"

"-so we came to get you," Fred finished with a calming breath.

"Wait, you didn't tell us why everyone is screaming and attempting murder," Sirius looked between the two twins.

"Or why we're here, exactly," Hermione spoke up.

"Oh, that's easy, Ginny asked for you to show up. Back-up and all, with you two being best friends and such-"

"- and as for the reason of the fighting… well, you'll see for yourselves if you'd kindly follow us in here."

The twins journeyed towards the dining room, and upon opening the door, Remus, Sirius and Hermione's ears were assaulted with the sound of six people screaming (Mr. Weasley was still staring silently at the wall and Tonks was merely laughing).

Mrs. Weasley seemed to have given up on just yelling at her daughter and was just yelling at the room itself.

"-NOT EVEN MARRIED! THE SHAME!"

Ginny countered with, "MUM! WE CAN BLOODY WELL _GET _MARRIED!"

Draco finally fought himself out of Ron's grasp and looked frightened at his girlfriend's words. "_What_? We're getting married?"

"See? The git doesn't even want to _marry_ you, Gin!" Charlie looked at his sister desperately.

"I didn't mean _right _this instant Draco!"

"Is my sister not good enough for you, Malfoy?" Bill looked away from his sister for a moment to stare at the blond.

"Quite the contrary, Weasley, she's _too _good for me. _That's_ why the idea of marriage shocked me," Draco replied haughtily before adding with a meaningful look at his attacker, "And don't start sounding like Ron – I know you're not as thick as him, Bill."

Bill laughed at this, slightly appeased with what he was hearing from the Malfoy.

Ron had now turned his attention to his sister and was screaming frantically, "WHAT IF THE KID HAS FRECKLES AND WHITE HAIR? DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW BADLY IT'LL GET MADE FUN OF?"

At this argument, Hermione spoke up, now done with her amusement of the quarrel.

"GINNY'S _PREGNANT?_"

Upon hearing this, Ron turned to her, "Well _duh_, Hermione! Where have you _been_?"

She glared at him, wiping off the spit he had shot out at her. "At school, Ron."

"Oh… well… yes… My little sister's been knocked up by the Death Eater boy!" Ron's voice rose up once again, turning back to the angry couple.

Molly's voice had now turned hoarse as she still tried screaming. "But they're not _married_," she wheezed weakly, trying to be heard above the din of the room.

Ginny finally calmed down a little, her skin lessening in its redness, and spoke, "Mum, we're in love. We have steady jobs and an apartment. We'll get married when we're ready," Draco nodded, glad at his girlfriend's assertiveness.

Mr. Weasley was still staring at the wall. Fred and George had their arms crossed and were casually leaning against the doorway, highly amused and wearing identical expressions of giddiness (for once they were _not _the ones getting the house in an uproar). Sirius was standing near the door, a dark eyebrow arched.

"But what did you expect? We do share an apartment together! Did you think we had separate rooms?" Ginny added to her defense, causing Draco to wince and the Weasley brothers to swivel towards him.

"You two have been shagging for the past _year_?" Charlie gaped at them.

Knowing he'd regret this, Draco quipped instantly out of reflex, "Well we shagged _before_ that, of course. Back when Virginia was a sixth year and I was a seventh…"

"YOU FUCKED MY SIXTEEN YEAR OLD SISTER?" Ron bellowed, a purple vein twitching in his forehead.

Mr. Weasley flinched at this, but continued looking at the wall as if it had some vastly important secret written on it.

Ginny whispered to Hermione with an exasperated smile, "I _told_ Draco we should have just sent an owl. But _nooo, _he has his pride…" Hermione laughed lightly, turning to watch as Ron launched himself at Draco. She raised her wand to stupefy one of them, but Ginny stopped her. "Draco asked to defend himself – he won't hurt Ron, don't worry."

With a rueful smile Hermione lowered her wand, "It's not Ron I'm worried about."

Draco, on the floor struggling with Ron, heard this and kept up with his normal sarcasm, "Granger! I'm disappointed that you have so little-" he flipped Ron onto his back and pinned his arms down, leaving him red-faced and sputtering "- faith in me."

"Show-off," Ginny rolled her eyes and stood up to help her baby's father to his feet. Draco stood gracefully and nodded to whatever Ginny whispered into his ear, one foot still pressed against Ron's stomach to hold him down. Ron, meanwhile, was foaming at the mouth and smacking Draco's leather booted foot with his hands, but to no avail.

Ginny stepped away from the grey-eyed man, and spoke loud enough for her entire audience to hear.

"If none of you have anything remotely intelligent or cheerful to say to us as expecting parents, then we're leaving." The so-called 'vixen' stood with her hands on her slim hips, red hair pulled back in a clip, and her green eyes flashing.

No one said anything, and Ginny stalked from the room, Draco on her heels. Calling over her shoulder, Ginny said, "Bye, Hermione! Thanks for coming! You too, Sirius!"

"Bye…" Hermione muttered weakly, a little shell-shocked herself at the whole situation and the intensity at which it occurred in so little time.

Sirius waved cheerfully, acting as if he weren't in a room full of pissed off people. "Bye Virginia! Bye Draco! Have a good night!"

George and Fred were pouting, "You didn't say bye to us! _We_ didn't yell at you!"

"And we played messenger!" Fred added, but the couple was already gone.

Deciding to break the now deafening silence, Hermione spoke up sensibly about the mess that she would help clean up. "Draco and Ron knocked quite a bit over," she muttered as she bent down to retrieve a broken vase.

Molly sat down in one of the few chairs that hadn't been overturned, and stared blankly ahead of her. "I didn't mean to be mean to Ginny… It's just… they're so young, and they're not married…" her hoarse voice and tears in her motherly eyes made her look very pitiful at the moment, causing Tonks to place a comforting hand on the older woman's shoulder.

George was whispering into Sirius' ear with a curious expression on his youthful face. "So, earlier, when you were on the floor in Hermione's room… What was the cause of that? I mean, I never figured Hermione to be the rough-rider type, and all…"

"Yeah," Fred spoke up as his head popped up next to his twin's in Sirius' line of vision. "And you've been holding your package for a while now, too. Must have been _some_ roughness…"

------------------

Remus returned to Hogwarts with Hermione and Sirius after a small talk with the Weasleys, and the pair of lovers retreated to Hermione's room.

"I feel so bad for Gin," Hermione sighed as she threw her sweater on the bed.

"I feel bad for Draco – he had quite a few of the Weasley boys after his blood at once," Sirius mused, thinking about his cousin affectionately. "Something I doubt I could even do."

"Oh I'm sure you could if you boinked their little sister when she was sixteen," Hermione laughed.

"Good point," he laughed as he flopped onto the bed. Then he remembered that he had promised to get her back for earlier, when she had evilly caused him to have sore balls for a few hours.

He pounced on her, tickling her madly as she screamed in surprise and forced laughter. He grabbed her wrists with one hand and continued tickling her with the other, until an idea came to him. Ceasing his actions for a moment, he reached into his pocket and retrieved his wand, a mischievous grin spread across his face.

_Oh Jesus…_ Hermione thought as she noticed the twinkle in his eyes.

With a quick spell, Sirius had magicked her hands tied to the bedpost. Now her body was sprawled out, her legs pinned beneath Sirius' weight, and the overly sensitive skin of her underarms _very_ exposed for tickling.

Hermione noticed this and began struggling frantically, knowing that it would do no good.

"Please, Sirius! I'm sorry, it was an accident!" she laughed whilst struggling against the bonds.

"Oh no, no, no, my dear. I made a promise," he ran his hand up her side over her shirt, his eyes lusting, causing her to squirm. "And I'm a man of my word."

Her eyes widened as she realized he didn't mean to merely tickle her – he had other more torturous things on his clever mind.

He smirked at her as he took in her reaction and kissed the top of her cute nose. Running a long hand over her breast through her sweater, Sirius positioned himself so that their lower bodies were pressed together.

In a habitual movement, he had gotten her sweater off, leaving her in a tight black undershirt that showed her cleavage quite well. He grinned cheekily as she squirmed again, not liking the fact that she was completely under control of him. Sirius leaned lower, tossing the sweater uncaringly to the side of the bed, and brushed his plush lips against her breasts.

_So soft…_ was her only conscious thought as she reveled in his minor touch.

He pulled away hastily and slid his hand slowly down her stomach to the hem of her pants. She gasped lightly as she realized what he was going to do, and squirmed again, causing her to grind unconsciously against Sirius' arousement.

"_Stop_ that, woman," he growled, his voice husky with want and eyes blazing.

Her pants were pulled down her legs painfully slowly, finally removed from constricting her body.

Hermione, now in her panties and black shirt, desperately wanted to de-clothe Sirius and run her hands over his beautiful body. She wanted it so much that could hardly see straight as he pulled off her shirt and began teasing her breasts lightly with his hands. He massaged them both at once, making sure neither felt the least bit neglected.

"Hmm…" she moaned, pulling her wrists at the confines of the bedpost.

Her scant clothing left were her black panties, and now even they felt overwhelmingly hot and incommodious. She needed her lover so intensely that she thought she might pass out from the desire blazing below her waist.

Sirius kissed Hermione's neck, down to in between her breasts and across her stomach, only to pause at her panties. He kept his position locked, his lips just above the hem of the garment and turned his black gaze up to witness his lover's expression. The bonds of her wrists were pulled to their tightest, and Hermione's face was a mixture of pleasure and pain. With a small smile, Sirius decided that now was the time.

He pulled back, and with the sudden absence of Sirius' body and breath warmth on her, she gasped and her eyes shot open.

Sirius leapt from the bed gracefully, picking up his earlier discarded robe and swinging it over his shoulder. He regained his wand from the floor and stood up to observe the _extremely_ flustered woman before him.

And there stood Sirius Black - wand spinning in his fingers, hair mussed attractively, and a smirk on his lips – in all his glory, as a man of his word.

"Goodnight, Granger."

------------------

**A/N: **Now that would _suck._Oh, and to clear something up right now, the bonds Sirius used were temporary - they'll wear off in a few hours. You didn't think he was _that_ mean, did you?

Please review! The next chapter will be the continuation of the war of Granger and Black – seduction, weakness, and power are in great utilization.

Thanks for your previous reviews guys, and keep it up! I love you!


	11. Pretty Little Pills

**I Want the Fire Back**

**Summary:** Hermione is obsolete – the War is over, Harry and Ron are busy, and she the mere Charms teacher at Hogwarts. When a presumably dead man comes back better than ever, she suddenly means everything... to him. SiHr

**Rating:** R for language, themes, sex, and whatever else may come out of my twisted little mind.

**Disclaimer:** It's not me who owns these characters or any plots associated with the Harry Potter books.

**Chapter 11: Pretty Little Pills**

Hermione Granger got very little sleep the previous night - mainly because of her git of a boyfriend. She was _beyond_ angry about last night's occurrences. He certainly had gotten back at her – and done a hell of a good job of it. Another reason she had so little sleep, was because she was struggling to come up with her own retaliation.

And at two in the morning, it struck her – and she owled Harry, hoping to God that he still had those prank pills she had given him years ago.

---------------

It was breakfast time in the Great Hall, and students were milling about lazily, glad it was Friday, but also dreading the fact that the day of the week would make classes seem to drag out much longer.

Sirius and Hermione sat next to each other at the staff table as they did every morning, but neither said anything, and each had their own reasons why. Sirius knew that if he opened his mouth it would result in him gloating and Hermione getting angrier, and Hermione stayed tacit because she was afraid she would sound too giddy and cause suspicion to arise. Not that Sirius was not already horribly suspicious of her actions that morning – he had pulled way too many pranks in his life not to know to be cautious around that person afterwards.

Unfortunately for the exhaustingly attractive DADA substitute, Hermione had already performed the task of her revenge. Early that morning she received Harry's owl accompanied by the requested pills, and she traveled down to kitchens during the house elves breakfast preparation time.

Most of the elves still gave her dirty looks when she wasn't noticing (S.P.E.W. was still a lingering nightmare to most of them, and those who weren't there during S.P.E.W. days heard about it from others) but they still dutifully did what she asked of them.

She hastily explained that no matter what, the pills were to be placed discretely inside the food directly in front of Sirius Black at the staff table. At first the elves were hesitant, unsure as to whether the pills were safe or not. She quickly explained they were harmless, and knowing that the elves would do no mischief to a member of the teaching staff, lied about what their real purpose was. She told them that the pills were Sirius' medicine that he needed very badly, but would never willingly take due to his stubbornness.

"What a naughty sir, be's that Sirius Black. He needs his medicines!" an abnormally small house elf chided more to herself than Hermione as she took the three pills from the teacher and ran over to where the food was being cooked. Hermione felt slightly guilty for lying to the poor creature, but decided it was worth it.

Within moments she had lost track of where the Viagra had been placed and in what pile of food, and hoped to God that they ended up where they needed to be.

Now all she could do was wait as she sat stiffly at the breakfast table, half listening to Sirius and Dumbledore's conversation about the upcoming quidditch match of Gryffindor verses Slytherin. Sirius kept shooting her glances out of the corner of his eye, obviously waiting for her to make her move. She grinned at this, extremely delighted with his apprehensiveness. Not many could strike fear into the heart of the infamously sexy Marauder.

Hermione thought shamedly for a moment that she had quite the advantage when it came to her distributed Viagra, considering Sirius never would have heard of it because he was only a full-blooded wizard and she was well-accustomed to both muggle and wizarding worlds.

_Ah, well, serves him right._

---------------

Sirius was perplexed – Hermione had done nothing to him at breakfast – not shown some horrid picture of him dancing around in a leotard (_not_ that he ever did that… _ever_) to the whole hall, or any other beastly act of revenge.

To say it in the least – he was scared shitless. Her quietness proved to him that she had an idea, a plan of some sort, and knowing her immense quantity of cleverness he was unsure whether or not he would ever want to be seen in public again after her act was committed.

_Oh, well, she still has lunch… _he thought idly as he stood up from his desk and began lecturing his seventh year Slytherins and Ravenclaws about vampires.

And the lecture was going fairly well – Sirius was pacing the front of the room and up and down the aisle in between the desks, speaking of the ways you could detect a vampire, and students were actually participating in the discussion – until a small ripple of laughter broke out in the Slytherin side of the room. Whispers sprung up from the laughter, and it spread like wildfire throughout the class as students took notice of the comic relief their professor was unknowingly providing them with.

Constanza Rashen, a chubby Ravenclaw, was very prominently pointing at Sirius' crotch area, causing him to look down and finally realize what was so damn amusing. Throughout the discussion he had been so caught up in his words and direction of thought that he hadn't noticed the tremendously noticeable erection he had.

_Bloody hell, Granger!_ He thought in astonishment and anger. He had watched her _so_ carefully, though…

Trying to recover his currently very scant esteem with his class, Sirius quickly pulled his unopened black robe around himself and turned back towards his desk in a pitiful effort to look subtle.

This act only caused the students to laugh even more heartily, making the professor blush greatly. Never in his life had he been so humiliated – at least before when his friends embarrassed him, it was around his own peers, but he was an adult now, and these were kids – they would have a fricken field day with this. Days of gossip would erupt from this, hours of giggling late at night in the girls' dormitories and wistful thoughts about who was the cause of the sudden arousement.

He seated himself at his desk, hands still clutching his robes at his waist, face beet red. Gingerly picking up his wand and trying to reverse his little – er, big – problem, Sirius discovered that it was not a hex known to him that was rendering him horribly horny at the moment – it was something else.

Finally admitting to himself that Hermione had damaged his pride horrendously in a way he never thought she would manage, Sirius let his head fall face-first onto the polished surface of Moony's desk and pondered the idea of beating off underneath its surface…

_Fuck._

---------------

Hermione, on the other hand, was sitting in a class full of fifth years, wondering if the medication had made it to Sirius and had its desired effect. Little did she know, that in her next class period, that desired effect would be all the students would be so avidly talking about.

---------------

After dinner, Hermione practically sprinted from the Great Hall to avoid Sirius' wrath. Obviously she had heard the news - and on top of that seen it as Sirius sat down seething next to her... at lunch _and_ dinner. She knew that he would be so utterly embarrassed that he would stop at no length to avenge his erection problem… or, lack thereof.

She finally reached her portrait entrance, and as she began the first syllable of the password, heard the distinct slapping of feet hitting the stone floor mere feet down the hall.

Out of excitement and fear, Hermione stopped mid-password to screech "Dammit!", giving the runner the chance to glimpse the brunette barely stumble into the doorway before slamming it closed.

"Dammit!" Sirius echoed, growling in frustration. He spoke the password to the portrait of the dryads playing mirthfully amongst one another, and the door swung open to reveal Hermione's quarters. She was nowhere in sight.

Prepared for any ambush, Sirius entered the room cautiously. He took a few steps inside until deciding it would be easier to sneak around as Padfoot. In an instant the man's beautiful locks of ebony hair transformed into matching fur, and he became the grim that had so frightened his godson in his third year.

Sniffing her out quietly, he discovered that she was perched nervously behind her bathroom door.

And he decided to wait.

Situating himself on the couch in the living room that faced away from her bedroom, he became comfortable and waited for any sounds of her stirring.

_I could have sworn I heard the door open,_ Hermione thought as she paced her bedroom. But she had not heard any noises within her quarters, and therefore decided it was safe. Oh, didn't she realize that she was dealing with _the_ Sirius Black here?

Hermione stepped out from her bedroom, clad in her white tank top and comfortable black velvet sweats. Hey, she had gotten bored just sitting in her room waiting for Sirius to barge in at any moment – and besides, if he were to barge in, why wouldn't she want to be in the act of undressing?

Picking up a book from a shelf on her way to the couch, Hermione was suddenly tossed quite undramtically onto her destination ahead of time.

She now lay sprawled over the cushions, book forgotten on the floor a few feet away, and her angry boyfriend glowering above her.

"You gave me this problem – you make it go away," Sirius spoke, motioning slightly and very unnecessarily to his crotch. This caused Hermione to burst out laughing, causing him to glower even more so.

"You couldn't figure out how to get rid of it?" she sputtered in disbelief.

He pouted, "I tried all the spells I know…"

"I didn't use a spell, Sirius – it was a muggle pill. And you get rid of it like you would a normal one…" Hermione giggled at the look on his face.

"Why in God's name do you people have _pills_ for this sort of thing?" he asked, aghast, both eyebrows raised.

Hermione shrugged, "For the old people." She sat up straighter in her position on the overly fluffy couch, only to gain more attention than she originally bargained for.

Deciding to act on her words of fixing the issue at hand, Sirius pounced on Hermione's form, kissing her deeply before pulling away. "So we're at a truce, then?" she asked, slightly breathlessly, staring at the heated look on Sirius' face.

"We're going to get rid of my male organ of copulation problem…" She laughed at his response as he ground his lower body to hers, growling possessively. With a small smirk of pride, Sirius spoke again.

"Hermione, you would have made a great Marauder."

---------------

Dark eyebrows perfect for raising individually in amusement. High cheekbones on which atramentous eyelashes laid in rest. Slight dimples that showed in every experienced instance of joy. Prolific lips ideal for the plentiful smirks they created. Stylish sable hair splayed across a scarlet pillow. Light stubble adorning a stubborn jaw.

All of this Hermione stared at in wonder as she sketched it wordlessly. His beauty had finally brought her to the point of needing to express her admiration of it on paper.

Even in sleep Sirius had not been able to manage a façade of innocence. No, not at all. In sleep is when your true self is exposed – and Sirius was anything but innocent. The way a small arrogant smile graced his mouth was an apparent illustration of his lack of purity.

Her pencil scratched at the paper in a small whisper, thankfully not waking the sleeping beauty in next to her. Innocent, he may look not – but peaceful, he did.

She winced as he shifted in sleep a few moments later, his face contorting into a yawn. Quickly opening the drawer next to her bed (yes, they had moved it to the bedroom after a while) Hermione shoved the parchment and pencil inside and closed it just in time for Sirius to fully waken.

"Whatya doin' slammin' drawers and such?" he mumbled, rubbing a hand to his face and stifling another onset of yawn-age.

Briefly studying the way the muscles in his arm contracted in use, Hermione replied. "Um… looking for something."

These words seemed to bring him from his sleep entitled stupor, and Sirius' eyes shot open. "What time is it?" He looked past her to the alarm clock and cussed fluently as he stumbled from the bed, realizing his entire left leg was asleep.

Hiding her laughter at his utterly idiotic appearance, Hermione questioned his actions.

"I have to meet Harry at eleven – we're going to London," the raven-haired god replied as he stumbled ineptly around the room naked, looking for his boxers.

Slightly put out by this revelation, Hermione uttered a small "Oh" and averted her eyes downwards.

Sirius, not being one to be a complete oblivious jackass, noticed her attitude change. "I'll be back in time for the match today, love."

Her mood lightened at this, but her curiosity was now raging. She knew that if Sirius had wanted to tell her just what it was he had planned that day that he would have informed her, so she decided not to press a matter that would result in no valuable response.

Growling frustratedly, Sirius stood in the middle of the bedroom, hands on his bare hips and his foot tapping impatiently.

"'Mione, do you have a pair of boxers I could borrow?"

---------------

**A/N: **Ok, review please! I love you guys, keep up the great work! I promise the next chapter will be MUCH longer. It'll include Siri-boy's reason for venturing into big bad London, and Hermione's reaction to his reason for visiting London. Okay? Whoooo.


	12. Of Phoenixes and Drunkenness

**I Want the Fire Back**

**Summary:** Hermione is obsolete – the War is over, Harry and Ron are busy, and she the mere Charms teacher at Hogwarts. When a presumably dead man comes back better than ever, she suddenly means everything... to him. SiHr

**Rating:** R for language, themes, sex, and whatever else may come out of my twisted little mind.

**Disclaimer:** It's not me who owns these characters or any plots associated with the Harry Potter books.

**Chapter 12: Of Phoenixes and Drunkenness**

Hermione dressed herself in a dark red jumper and jeans, and threw on a pair of warm robes over top. She wrapped her Gryffindor scarf around her neck and pulled her chestnut hair free from underneath. Slipping on a pair of black gloves, she surveyed herself in her mirror momentarily before heading out into the hall to meet Remus. He was already waiting for her with his impeccable sense of timing and very lacking late-ness.

"Hullo, Hermione!" Remus said cheerfully, waving at her as he attempted shoving a mitten on at the same time. He was in a wonderfully happy mood, despite the bags under his eyes, and Hermione wondered if it was because of the full moon being far away, or because he was madly in love and had his best friend back. Not to mention the traitorous bastard responsible for killing and ruining the lives of himself and everyone he cared for was dead. That was always a good memory to start your day with.

"Good afternoon, Remus," the young woman grinned, but it didn't quite reach her eyes.

Remus Lupin, the ever-perceptive werewolf he was, noticed. "What's wrong, dear girl?" Acting concerned, but still smiling, Remus led her down the corridor towards the quidditch pitch.

"Sirius isn't back yet," she sighed, and immediately felt foolish for saying that. He had been gone only a few hours, and one would think that she would have liked just a little time away from her lover… But such was not the case. She worried about him, although she had no real reason to do so. He and Harry were both fathomlessly powerful wizards, and she refused to doubt that.

"Ah, yes, he seems to be lacking presence at the moment, doesn't he?" Remus responded lightly, still smiling pleasantly. Hermione laughed at his quirky mood, and said, "Yes… but I hope he does make it back in time for at least some of the match. He's always excellent for a good warm-up in the stands."

The older man laughed and looked at Hermione in mock shock. "Why, Professor Granger, in the _stands_? Seems an awfully public place to do such things in, especially in front of the students…"

"Oh, don't worry Moony – the students saw me in a right state yesterday, didn't they, Hermione?"

The two friends turned to find Sirius standing with Harry, who was snickering quietly at his godfather's horrible fate the previous day. When Sirius had told him that, he had quickly made the smart move of keeping his mouth closed on how Hermione had owled him that night, requesting a certain amount of stimulating pills. Sirius may love him dearly, but that did not mean that he wouldn't smack him up side the head for his petty betrayal.

Hermione had the courtesy to blush, and Remus chuckled. "Ah, yes, I heard about that this morning – some students in the hall were quite avidly discussing just how _gifted_ a certain Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher was. And I really don't think they were talking magically."

Sirius glared at him playfully and stepped forward to take Hermione's gloved hand, the four of them walking in Remus and Hermione's previous direction.

"So," she began, unable to further hold in her curiosity, "What did you two boys do while in London, hmm?"

Harry opened his mouth eagerly to speak, but Sirius saw and kicked him in the foot to silence him.

"Ow! Sirius, that was my foot, you git!" Harry looked at him confusedly, and Sirius played innocent.

"I thought I saw a spider."

Hermione sighed impatiently interrupting the two raven-haired men/boys, "You haven't answered my question."

Sirius turned his attention from his clueless godson to his curious girlfriend, and raised an eyebrow. "I'm aware of that fact. Thank you for reminding me, though, love, I appreciate it greatly."

Glaring at him, Hermione raised her foot and promptly kicked Sirius in the foot. As he opened his mouth in shock to question her reasons for such an act, she interjected him. "Spider."

And with that, Hermione stalked off to faster than the others towards the stands.

Remus raised an eyebrow (it was a Marauder thing – they could all do it, except for that idiot Peter) and turned to Padfoot, smiling.

Harry was still grumbling about his foot and kept shooting questioning glances towards Sirius.

"That time of the month, maybe?" Sirius shrugged at Hermione's behavior. No use in trying to depict what was bothering her – there was always _that_ to blame it on.

"No, actually, the next full moon is quite far aw-" Remus began, having not noticed what Sirius meant, but was cut-off shortly after being stared at in amazement and realization hit him.

"Ah, well, yes, Hermione… I don't believe so, she didn't smell like-" Remus, regaining his more intelligent ways, spoke teasingly. Sirius threw up his hands in disgust, taking Hermione's previous actions and speeding up his pace greatly.

"Bloody hell, man! Do you think I want to know about the things you can smell on my girlfriend?"

------------------

The trio of men finally found where Hermione was sitting in the Gryffindor stands, and approached her, laughing and speaking about certain things Remus had accidentally smelled during his life.

To anyone attracted to men, the sight sure was breath taking. You had three completely different guys, but all very attractive in their own way.

Take Harry, for instance – a daring Auror who killed the wizarding world's greatest dark lord, grew up in a home of misfortune, and discovered friends who loved and supported him so greatly that he would die for any one of them. Okay, so he was incredibly unselfish and brave. Another thing was his unique looks – a lightning scar on his forehead gave him great character, whereas his vibrant green eyes looked jubilant and bright, and his untamable black hair gave him the impression of a ruffled sex toy. Oh, and don't forget the whole exceedingly famous thing.

Next was the wise and quiet Remus Lupin. He was vastly intelligent and greatly articulate, not to mention he had the bad boy feature because of his lycanthropy. And in the looks department, he was also no outcast. Light brown hair framed his handsome face, and his amber eyes lit up every time he was interested or amused. And if you ever got into a conversation with this man, his charming and respectful manner would have you believing that chivalry was not dead – but very, very close to being extinct.

And last, but certainly not least (he never could be with all that damn attention he grabbed unknowingly), was Sirius Black. He indefinitely beat his best friend in the bad boy department – convicted of 13 murders, betraying his two best friends and dealing them over to the dark lord who he supposedly served, spent 13 years in Azkaban, another 5 in a hell dimension, and came out _sane_ and with enough sense of humor to spare, to be pardoned of his crimes and given back the last 20 years of his life, physically. Personality-wise, he was a loyal rebel who would give anything for the people he loved… almost too willingly and rashly. And he was undauntingly sexy – black eyes and matching hair, dimples, and a devil-may-care smile to knock you right on your ass.

And these three men, radiating of pure sex appeal, seated themselves next to a former prude who had grown to suffice into a beautiful young woman.

Extra large helping of jealousy, anyone?

Instead of sitting next to the lovely and intensely lucky woman, Sirius sat square on her lap, grinning like an idiot. It was his own unique way of getting her to forgive him.

"You oaf! Get off of me!" she laughed, only causing Sirius to snuggle more comfortably into her lap.

"No, I think I like it here. This way I'm taller than everyone else and they have a less adequate view of the playing field."

This went on for a few more minutes until Hermione resolutely pinched Sirius' bum rather hard, causing him to yelp and fall onto the bench next to her.

"_I _always let _you_ sit on _my _lap," he pouted defiantly for a moment, only to begin cheering madly as the teams made their way onto the field, brooms in hand.

As the names were announced, Sirius noticed that he had gone to school with some of the students' parents. _Odd,_ he thought to himself, _that Hermione went to school with these kids and I knew their parents…_ Especially odd since the two of them clearly appeared the same age.

But when you are discussing Sirius Black and anything that even slightly involves him, odd is quite the active adjective.

------------------

As students were excitedly chanting "Gryffindor", the four adults made their way through the crowd of riled up teenagers, which resulted in Sirius' ass being groped by at least four girls, and one boy. But they were now safe in the confines of his quarters.

The match had been a close one – Slytherin played dirty, as it had the last thousand quidditch matches, and the Gryffindors played resolutely, determination seeping from their pores. The result was a scheduled party in the Gryffindor common room, which reminded Hermione of her own school parties that Fred and George had always thrown in favor of Harry's great snitch capturing.

_Such good times…_ she thought in remembrance of her childhood, and a small stem of regret hit her. Surely, she could have spent just a little more time being a kid and a little less being so studious…

She was shaken from her memories as Sirius and Harry shot her pointed looks. _Why are they looking at me like that?_ Then she realized that they had most likely been talking to her.

"Yes?"

"As we were saying, 'Mione," Harry began, brushing a piece of hair away from his scarred forehead. "Sirius and I got a little something in London, and we wanted to show you two."

Hermione looked slightly perplexed as she viewed the two inquisitively, considering neither had anything in their hands to supposedly show them. She was then a little more shocked as Sirius and Harry – who had already removed their outer robes – began taking off their shirts.

Appearing slightly frightened, but more so amused, Remus said, "I'm not into orgies, boys… at least not with two other men. Sorry to break your hearts and all-"

"Oh shut it, Moony," Sirius snapped playfully, and teasingly turned away from them all to do a pleasant little strip dance while twirling his shirt above his head.

The room's occupants laughed, and Harry removed his shirt almost hesitantly – ah, what a modest young man.

Without a spoken word, Sirius and Harry exchanged glances and turned towards their apt audience at the same time.

On both godson and godfather's chest, was an intricate tattoo of a phoenix. It was a vibrant red, and its eyes seemed to almost flash in vigor, although the image did not move nor change color. Its long flaming tail tracked down both men's stomachs, ending in a forked split around their navels. It was utterly beautiful, in more ways than one.

It was obvious that the two had not only gotten the mark out of love and devotion to one another, and in bonding, but also out of love and remembrance for those the two had shared in loss. A reason one could tell of that was the fact that it was the symbol of resurrection and the triumph of life over death.

Unable to help herself, Hermione reached out and drug one slim finger across Sirius' still sensitive chest, outlining the picture with a look of wonder on her face.

"It's gorgeous," she whispered, making Sirius grin unwaveringly.

"I was going for manly and rugged, but sure, if gorgeous is also a turn on, why not?"

"What did it feel like, Harry?" Remus asked as he peered closer at the tattoo.

"Not the best feeling in the world, but certainly not the worst, either," the boy said with a wise laugh. True, for Harry Potter was not unknown to the feeling of pain.

"Now if either one of us gets fat, Harry, we'll look plenty stupid what with a stretched out tattoo and all, won't we?"

------------------

Later that evening, Harry invited Ron to Hogwarts, and the five were now seated in Sirius' living room, idly chatting amongst one another.

A sudden idea hit Sirius, causing him to yelp in surprise and excitement. The entire room turned to look at him, curious about the sudden outburst.

Hermione swallowed almost nervously as she noticed the roguish glint in his eyes, and he opened his mouth to speak.

"Do you guys know that it's been twenty damn years since I've had a solid drinking binge?"

In response to this, Remus, Harry and Ron laughed, and Hermione let a small smile slip. She wasn't totally against drinking – she herself had experienced a few intriguing mornings in which she remembered very little – but she didn't want to appear completely up for the idea of getting wasted on school property.

Ron noticed her disapproving look, and flashed her a big grin. "Oh 'Mione, loosen up a little, will you? We're not students anymore!"

"I suppose you're right Ron," the brunette sighed, "But if we're all to help Sirius drink himself under the table-" Sirius smirked at the assault of fond memories at this notion "-where are supposed to get the alcohol to do so?" Hermione finished exultantly, until Remus gave a small, embarrassed cough.

Everyone swiveled to observe Remus in shock, except Sirius, who knew his friend's habits quite well.

"I… Well I have quite the supply of fire whisky in my room…"

Harry mock-gasped, "Why, Professor! You get _drunk_ on the job?"

Remus blushed and shrugged. "Only on the weekends…"

"Come on, mate," Ron stood up and motioned for Remus to tag-along, "I'll come with you to get the beverages," he offered a wink to Hermione out of pure want for annoyance, causing Sirius to growl over protectively.

"Bonkers, the lot of you…" Harry mumbled under his breath with a smile.

------------------

Remus and Ron returned a few minutes later, each harbouring a bottle of the precious whisky under their robes.

"Voila!" Ron grinned ridiculously and pulled the container out to bathe in the light of the room.

Sirius laughed and jogged into his kitchen to fetch some shot glasses, setting them on the coffee table in the living room.

"Just in case," Hermione mumbled before casting a silencing spell over the room. The men turned to her, and those who could, raised their eyebrows.

"I just don't want to get caught!" she replied flustered, before holding her hand out eagerly. "Gimme."

Remus laughed heartily as he poured her a glass and handed it over. "Hermione, I never figured you to be such an avid drinker."

She winced as she downed the liquid, making a pained face, before responding. "I never figured you for it either, Lupin. What's your excuse?"

"Sometimes the werewolf inside needs to be quelled, even on nights that aren't bearing a full moon," the amber-eyed man replied lightly even though his words contained a heavy amount of emotion. "And yours?"

Hermione gave a small shrug as she refilled her glass. "You don't need to be asleep to experience nightmares of a sort."

The older man nodded and raised his own glass out to toast the woman. "To personal hells and defeating them with unnaturally strong liquor."

They drank to it, and Sirius, finding that a whole bottle was sitting unattended on the table in front of him, picked it up with a smile.

"Oh how I missed thee," he murmured, taking a swig straight from the bottle.

Remus laughed. "Melodramatic, much, Padfoot?"

"Always, Moony," he replied, taking another swig and letting the liquid burn its way down his throat.

Harry stared stoically at his own shot glass, preparing himself for the onslaught of horrid taste he would experience. It was not always easy to go through the process to receive your desired effect.

Tilting his head back, the Boy-Who-Lived gulped down his shot of fire whisky, and ended up barely swallowing it before coughing and hacking horribly.

"Amateur," Sirius observed Harry musingly before taking another swig of the bottle.

"Why yes, Sirius, we brought one bottle for you to have to yourself and the other for the rest of us to share," Hermione growled as she jumped from her spot on the couch to jerk the aforementioned object from his hands.

"Bit pushy, aren't you?" he grinned up at her through already watery eyes.

"You know it, Black," she downed another shot and set the bottle back in her lover's hands to wipe her mouth with her sleeve.

A few more drinks later.

"Anyone up for strip chess?" Ron giggled inanely as he tumbled sideways on his chair.

_ Talk about a lightweight,_ Remus mused as Sirius spoke up while watching his also teetering grandson.

"Yes, Ron, why don't you and Harry play?"

"Yeah!" Harry beamed vivaciously and stood up quickly, only to fall face first on the floor.

"I'll get the chess set!" Ron yelled and stood up, but unlike his ill-fated friend, managed to sprint towards the door.

Hermione, in the process of drinking another shot, spit it out and yelled (only slightly slurred), "You can't let'im go! If someun sees'im…!" she trailed off in laughter as she noticed Harry was avidly licking the carpet where her drink had been sputtered out.

"Shit," Sirius mumbled as he set 'his' bottle back on the table and hurdled himself over the couch to attempt capturing the much-disadvantaged man, for his drunkenness was greater.

Still, although Sirius could hold his liquor better, he tripped and fell on top of the Weasley, and both lay in a sputtering heap near the door.

"Did he get out?" Hermione giggled lightly as she tore her gaze away from the still-licking Harry.

Remus turned around slowly, observing the mess behind him. "No, but I do believe they've decided they want to be more than friends."

"No!" Harry managed to shoot up from his position on the floor and stand without falling. "Ron, I wanted to play strip chess!" He tore off his light green t-shirt and began unbuckling his pants.

"Oh lord," Hermione moaned, turning her face towards the cover of the couch and trying to raise the bottle to her lips, which resulted in it pressing awkwardly against her mouth and dribbling whisky down her shirt.

Sirius stood up, swaying slightly as Ron caught hold of his pants and nearly ripped them clear off.

"Bloody tall…" the redhead murmured from his position on the floor as he watched Sirius tower six feet above him.

"'Monee, could ya tosh the bottle o'er hur?" Sirius slurred horribly, partly because of the alcohol in his system and partly because his face had been smashed roughly into the carpet when he had tripped over Ron.

Without thinking, Hermione muttered a "Sure" and sent the bottle whizzing over a gaping Remus' head, only to smash into the wall next to Sirius', sending liquor and glass all over it.

The room was silent for a good ten seconds before Sirius yelled and ducked, just now reacting to the fact that his head had nearly been blown off. Harry 'eeped' and stopped trying to _unzip_ his boxers, and Ron began crawling towards the back of the couch, muttering about explosions and taking cover.

Remus was now laughing uncontrollably as he was aware that no one had actually gotten hurt, and Hermione was gaping at her now empty hand.

"I wasn't _done_ with that," she glared at Sirius, who was still holding his head protectively in his hands, sobbing about his near death.

"Lightweights, all of you," Remus sighed disappointedly, standing up to very un-Remus-ly scratch his bum.

This seemed to bring Sirius out of his daze and his head jerked up. "I'm _na_ a lighweigh, Moony!"

Remus smirked. "Prove it, Padfoot."

Sirius pondered for a moment (er, well he paused for a second, but that may have just been his delayed reactions), and charged full speed at his best friend.

Even with his werewolf reflexes, Remus did not get out of the way in time, and was thrown back into his chair with Sirius on top of him. Both began laughing hysterically, memories of nights at Hogwarts doing much the same thing.

Hermione had began chanting, "I'm the real shady, yes I'm the real shady…"

Ron was desperately trying to shove his head under the 3-inch gap between the floor and the couch.

Harry was naked and skank dancing.

And now you know why 90 percent of people's funniest memories came from being highly intoxicated.

------------------

**A/N: **Yeah, I know, that was pretty out of character for Hermione to get wasted – oh well. My story is all about Hermione becoming a more enthusiastic person, and wanting to live life to its fullest now that she has Sirius. And I also know it didn't take much for them to become completely wasted, but just remember that fire whisky is some hardcore shit. So please read and review! Christmas is next chapter! And you know what happens at Christmas… WEASLEYS! Oh and Sirius gets a _very_ kickass X-mas present from his family and friends.

**P.S. **Oh, and do ya'll think I've earned the right to put 'Humor' as my secondary genre for this fic? Tell me in your review!

**One final thing: **carosu pointed out to me that I was incorrect in thinking that the adjective mercurial is derived from the name Mercutio. I'm sorry if anyone took it that way, but in my story it says that the name Mercutio is _linked_ to the word mercurial. The _name_ Mercutio is derived from mercurial – _not_ the other way around. So I just wanted to clear that up with y'all!


	13. Flight of Freedom

**I Want the Fire Back**

**Summary:** Hermione is obsolete – the War is over, Harry and Ron are busy, and she the mere Charms teacher at Hogwarts. When a presumably dead man comes back better than ever, she suddenly means everything... to him. SiHr

**Rating:** R for language, themes, sex, and whatever else may come out of my twisted little mind.

**Disclaimer:** It's not me who owns these characters or any plots associated with the Harry Potter books.

A/N: In the beginning of this chapter there is a short poem type thing that I wrote, and it says something about Remus being the last Marauder – I'm counting Peter as no longer a Marauder – he ceased being one the night he killed Lily and James.

**Chapter 13: Flight of Freedom**

It was the morning of Christmas, and Hermione was asleep in her bed, anything but peaceful. Memories were assaulting her, and she found herself too weak to pull herself from the dream. Just too weak…

_Yelling… Laughing… Curses flying… Bellatrix's voice. Sirius taunting her… His laughter…_

_Then he fell. He fell into the darkness, into hell, out of her life. _

_For what she thought was forever._

Say your prayers, just as he hit the ground...

Mark these words on his grave…

Remus Lupin was the Last Marauder.****

Hermione jerked awake, her eyes flying to the empty space next to her. No wonder she had dreamt… Sirius wasn't there. She could hear the distinct sound of the shower running, and she realized that the poor chap couldn't even leave her to take a shower without some horrible recollection assaulting her viscously.

Deciding to cheer up, sheerly for the fact that it was Christmas, and happiness was to be absolutely bountiful today, Hermione slid out of bed with a small smile, and made to join Sirius in the shower.

_Remus Lupin is _not_ the Last Marauder._

------------------

"Alright – 'Mione, do you have everything ready to go to Molly and Arthur's?" Sirius asked for what seemed to be the thirteenth time, as he glanced at all the gifts she was carrying. He was looking endearing in a pair of black pants and a red t-shirt, a pair of black robes thrown over top and a green stocking cap on his head. Very sprit of Christmas.

She noticed this with a small smile, and knew at once what his searching gaze meant. Sirius had already snooped through those exact bags that Hermione was holding, only to discover that not one of them was his. He was too curious for his own good, and could scarcely handle not being aware of what he was to receive that night.

"Yes, Sirius, for the last bloody time."

"Alright, alright. To Dumbledore's, then?"

The young brunette nodded, and after having a brief struggle carrying all of the presents, followed her beau out the door to the Headmaster's office.

Dumbledore was, adorably, dressed in all red robes with a fuzzy red and white hat adorning his white hair, giving him the absolute rendition of Santa.

Stifling a giggle, Hermione spoke, "Merry Christmas, Professor."

"Same to you, Hermione. And please – it's Albus now – I'm your colleague," the old man responded, blue eyes twinkling more than she'd ever thought possible. Maybe it was because Voldemort was dead and it was Christmas. And also the fact that the two cleverest students he'd ever had happened to be back in the world of the living, joyous and content even after all they had been through.

"Coming to the Weasleys, Albus?" Sirius asked as he _finally _took a few bags from Hermione's load and moved towards the fireplace. Lazy-ass boy…

"I'm afraid not, dear boy. Must stay here and tend to the students," Dumbledore smiled before waving goodbye and leaving his two former scholars alone.

"All ready, then?" Sirius asked again.

"Yes."

------------------

"Hermione!" was the first thing that the young beauty heard as she stepped from the Burrow's fireplace.

She was pulled into a hug after setting her bags down, and turned to see (of course) a bright red head.

"Ginny?"

The vixen pulled back, grinning, and Hermione was surprised to see that her very slim friend was now showing a little in the stomach. She was grinning passionately, causing Hermione to laugh.

"How have you been?"

Ginny shrugged. "Oh, you know – barfing a ton, weird food cravings – the whole lot."

Hermione winced in slight disgust and nodded sympathetically. "Sorry to hear that."

Ron came out of the kitchen, his arm slung casually around Harry's shoulders, and she smiled as they approached her, grinning like fools.

"Hullo, 'Mione! Get me anything good?" Ron spoke, trying to peer into the bags near her feet.

"Uh-_uh_, Ronald Weasley – you stay well away from my things until it's time to open gifts," Hermione poked him in the chest for emphasis, causing Harry to laugh.

"You never change, Hermione," Harry enveloped the much smaller woman in a hug. _Oh, dear Harry… so little do you know…_ she thought with a slight smile.

Fred and George had practically popped up from the woodwork and had now cornered Sirius into giving them advice on some new product, causing all three of them to laugh companionably at the horrid test results they had received.

Harry was laughing at Draco for every time Ginny seemed to go anywhere near him, he winced or flinched in fear. It was very anomalous seeing Draco afraid of the youngest Weasley just because she was pregnant. _But_, Harry reasoned, _I would be too if I were her boyfriend. Ginny's crazy enough without all the extra hormones._

Mrs. Weasley, after greeting Hermione and Sirius, stood back watching her only daughter go through the process of something she had done many times. Ginny looked absolutely radiant, especially among all the attention she was receiving over her little bump of a child.

Draco was receiving a little of his own attention, too, despite his protests, as Ginny drug him into her conversation with Tonks and Remus.

The chatter of the makeshift family was interrupted at that moment as a loud explosion was heard from the second floor of the Burrow.

"Oi!" Draco yelled, pulling Ginny towards him in an act of protection.

Sirius did the same with Hermione, grabbing her by the arm and pulling her near him as she yelped in surprise.

"Calm down, folks – s'alright," Fred crooned, making what he thought were 'soothing' motions with his hands.

"What in the world _was _that?!" Mrs. Weasley suddenly returned from the kitchen, a shaken look on her face, as she glared at the twins who wore equally guilty expressions on their features.

George, staring at the ground, spoke up, "Just an experiment, mum. Wasn't supposed to go off like that, it wasn't."

Positively livid, Molly Weasley marched towards her sons, and pulling them both by the ear, began leading them up the stairs as they apologized profusely. Molly paused half way up the stairs, and with a small yank, let go of each Fred and George's ears.

"You go up there and fix anything that got ruined! And if another thing like that happens tonight, you'll be in so much pain the other will feel it!" The twins winced in unison, knowing their mother was not joking. "And," she added, "I'm ashamed that you two would pull such foolishness around your sister when she's like this!"

Ginny, never one penchant to being called 'weak' or 'incapable' growled at her mother. "Mum, I'm fine! I can handle a little excitement!"

"Why yes, you very much can," Draco said slyly under his breath, only to his horror discovering that Bill had overheard him.

"What's that, Malfoy?" the imposing older Weasley whispered threateningly.

Draco sighed, realizing it is not wise at all to talk dirty about a girl who has six older brothers, especially when four of the six could kick his ass (Ron and him may be fairly equal, but let's face it – Percy's a total wuss) and all were standing nearby.

"Nothing at all, chap."

Bill grunted in response, turning back to watching Ginny scream at his mother, and swallowed a small smile. _Draco must really love that woman to put up with all of the death threats he gets from her family._

Mrs. Weasley, after finally calming down Ginny, walked down the stairs to continue cooking the Christmas dinner, mumbling something that sounded quite like, "…be in St. Mungo's by 55, for sure…"

Hermione, finally realizing that poor Mrs. Weasley must be swamped, cried, "Oh! I can help in the kitchen, if you'd like."

Sirius couldn't help himself – he burst out laughing at the very _idea_ of Hermione anywhere in a kitchen in which she was performing cooking tasks, and was rewarded with her glare of death.

"Do you think you can do any better, Black?" she snapped, hands on her curvy hips and eyes challenging.

Sirius played with his options for a moment before responding with a shrug. "First time for everything," he smiled and followed her into the kitchen.

On the way, Sirius raised his gaze to Tonks and smirked. "Why isn't Nymphadora helping?"

"Oh, because she's horribly clumsy," Ginny answered smartly, causing Sirius to gape at her and Tonks to look hurt.

Draco slipped his arm around Ginny's shoulders, and turned to the rest of the room, speaking one word. "Hormones."

A chorus of "Ah"s were heard throughout them.

"So, what's your most difficult task in here, Molly?" Sirius asked, leaning against the counter cockily after entering the cooking area.

"Hmmm… well the stuffing still needs to be made," the plump woman answered, biting her lip slightly, unsure as to whether she should trust the young Black with that task.

"Ah, splendid! I'll get right on that!" Sirius spoke, but looked at Hermione, who was looking anything but impressed. She wanted to see if he could actually cook, or whether he was just being as cocky as always.

Her answer came a few minutes later when Sirius began mixing ingredients and seasoning so quickly and expertly that Hermione became dizzy from watching him.

"Is there anything you _can't _do?" she asked with a small sigh.

Sirius, his hands covered in vegetables and a gooey looking substance, pulled them form the bowl to place his arm in one hand in his chin in the other, looking thoughtful. It ended up with him covered in bits of food and slime.

"Something I _can't_ do… Well, I believe childbirth would be a tad difficult for me… I just don't have the hips..."

Hermione laughed despite herself, and moved forward to help Sirius out a little – not that he needed it nor would she actually do more good than damage.

------------------

"Dinner time!" yelled an exhausted Molly Weasley as she poked her head out from the kitchen and brought out a large platter with a turkey placed on it.

The food was wonderful, and there were very few disturbances during the meal, and those that did happen were minor. For example, when Sirius shot a pea at Hermione and she threw a baby carrot back, which landed in his soup and splashed George, it resulted in an almost food fight. Other than that, there were no explosions, no shocking revelations – oh, wait, yes there was.

Towards the time when the meal began to wind down, Ron made a small strangled noise in his throat. To which, coincidentally, Charlie took as a choking noise and jumped up to save his little brother, giving him the Heimlich maneuver. Ron finally managed to yell that he was just trying to get everyone's attention, and a very embarrassed Charlie sat down, cheeks matching his hair.

"So, Ron, what is it that you wanted to tell us?" Hermione asked sweetly as she licked a bit of pudding off of her spoon, knowing full well that Ron was scared to death of whatever he was about to expose.

"Erm…" the lanky redhead shifted nervously in his seat next to his green-eyed companion.

"What Ron is trying to say…" Harry began, startling most of the table as the Boy-Who-Lived grabbed his best friends hand on the surface of the table. "…is that we're together. _Together_ together," Harry finished with a blush as Ron gripped his hand tighter, both of them flushing and averting their eyes to the food in front of them.

Ginny, the first to react, burst out laughing. "My brother is snogging my old crush!"

Malfoy, who had been desperately holding down the corners of his mouth in its attempt to laugh, erupted in a fit of mirth. "All those years of taunting," he gasped out, "And I was bloody _right_!"

"We always knew you had it in you, Ronniekins," George and Fred said with smirks.

Harry, ignoring Ron's family's quirky statements of acceptance, had his eyes trained right on his father figure. Sirius Black – the only person whose opinion meant a terrible lot to him at the moment.

Noticing the vibrant green gaze, Sirius looked at his godson for a moment before speaking. He took in the emotion in his eyes - the love - and answered his unspoken question, but he did so directed towards Ron.

"If I can date your best friend, you can date my godson," Sirius smiled empathetically, cheerful at the prospect of Harry and Ron being happy.

Ron laughed nervously, and nodded his head, pleased with the reactions he had received that night.

Hermione, though, had one question to ask, and did so, quite blatantly. "Did I turn you gay, Ron?"

Ron, who had calmed down enough to take a drink of his pumpkin juice, ended up spluttering it all over his father and himself at Hermione's intrepid question.

He turned to her, trying to appear incredulous, but looked quite ridiculous what with the pumpkin juice dripping down his face, causing him to look mentally impaired combined with his bulging eyes.

"Well… I mean…" she started, flustered at all the attention people were giving her. "Did I?"

Ron laughed and shook his head. "Nah, 'Mione… I just realized… you know, feelings and stuff," he ended lamely, causing Harry to laugh at him.

------------------

"Another eventful dinner, that was," George muttered to his twin as they ventured into the living room, where people were already taking up residence for the present opening.

Harry sat down in a recliner, nearest to the extravagantly decorated Christmas tree, and Ron seated himself next to his feet. Fred and George fought for a bit over other recliner, and George won, resulting in Fred sitting down on the couch next to his mum and dad. Remus, Tonks, Sirius, and Hermione managed to squeeze on the remaining couch with Hermione on Sirius' lap, carefully making sure to avoid crushing his _other_ present for her. Charlie, Bill, Percy and Penelope sat in kitchen chairs that had been moved into the living room, and Ginny and Draco had the loveseat to themselves with the excuse that Ginny had to put her feet up.

"Alright!" Arthur clapped his hands together, excited to begin passing out the gifts. Being Minister of Magic had pretty much resulted in the infamous Weasley sweaters becoming extinct. "Harry, since you're closest to the tree, why don't you pass out the gifts?"

Harry nodded and picked up a dark green one with silver bows. He raised an eyebrow (taking after his dad!) and said, "Wonder who this one's for."

The occupants of the joyous living room grinned and watched eagerly as Draco took it from Harry.

Realizing that it was from Fred and George, Draco opened it hesitantly, peeling back the messy wrapping paper. When fully opened, the box **poofed **and in its place was a small note with the Weasley Wizards Wheezes trademark on it, saying,

**WELCOME TO THE FAMILY!**

Draco cocked a pale eyebrow in response, and at that moment everyone burst into peals of laughter.

Penelope grabbed a mirror from her always-handy purse and tossed it to the confused man. He opened the compact and nearly cried out in disbelief as he noticed that his beautiful silvery blond hair had been transformed into a gaudy fire engine red. It was obviously a parody of their own trademark red hair as Weasleys.

"Definitely now a part of the clan, Draco," Charlie clapped him on the back as Percy continued for him.

"Once you've been pranked in such an… _affectionate_ way, you're truly family. Trust me."

After Draco had overcome his initial shock, presents began flowing like wine, each better than the last.

Finally, it was time for Sirius to give his own endowment to Hermione. He was nervous about it, no doubt, but also anxious. He had waited so long to finally present it to her and see her face when she saw it for the first time.

Hermione nervously tore at the gold wrapping paper of the box he had given her, her fingers shaky.

When she finally managed to open the slender box that the paper had revealed, she smiled. Inside lay a silver necklace with a matching pendant that to Sirius' own earring. The flame turned a bright green as she touched it, causing her to look at Sirius questioningly.

"The flash of color was just showing that the charm works. It shows whatever you're feeling – kind of like a muggle mood ring, only accurate. And it's got a load of safety charms on it," Sirius added with a lopsided grin.

"Its beautiful," Hermione grinned, and had Sirius fasten it around her neck for her.

When he finished, he motioned back to the box, "Go on. There's more."

Returning back to the box, Hermione was surprised to find a number of photographs. They were mostly of Sirius when he was younger, her age and below. Very few contained James (she figured those had been given to Harry), and there were some with Remus, but most were just of the beauty in next to her.

"I gave them to you because you're always complaining about how you don't know that much about my past… And I wanted you to have a part of it," Sirius blushed.

Hermione grinned as she rifled through the pictures, laughing at her lover. In the pictures he was so happy, so carefree, so in love with life… Something she had not seen him like until she had asked him for that fateful kiss on that fateful night.

After observing the last picture – one of Sirius laughing and swaying his hips precariously – she noticed a lighter piece of material, not that of a photograph.

She pulled it out to view it, and gasped at the scratchy script upon it.

_Can I claim you as mine?_

"Oh, Sirius…" she whispered his name falteringly, and for a moment the black-haired man thought that she would say no.

"You always could," she sobbed her reply as she buried her face into his collar.

He stroked her hair gently and whispered with a small smile, "Is that happy crying?"

"Of course, you prat!" Hermione pulled away, sniffing slightly and laughing.

"Good, because I already marked you," Sirius replied, his black eyes twinkling in the light of the tree.

"Huh?" Hermione frowned.

Sirius grinned, looking down at her hand, and she followed his gaze to find a beautiful diamond set in a band of white gold on her ring finger.

"When did you do that?" she asked in wonder, studying the right more closely, unable to keep the smile off of her face.

Sirius shrugged, "Earlier."

"What a wonderfully sappy moment," Draco drawled, but in place of his smirk was a genuine smile.

"Yes, sap level is through the roof," Fred agreed, nodding.

"So," Sirius began, his boyish eagerness clear on his face, "What did I get?"

Hermione laughed as she stood up and told everyone to put their coats on. Everyone complied relatively quickly because they had been told ahead of time, and Harry could hardly keep the smirk off his face.

Sirius raised an eyebrow, but did as he was told, too curious to slow down the surprise by asking questions.

Everyone was about to exit the Weasley's door into the backyard, when Hermione, realizing she almost forgot something, paused and pulled a small card from her pocket. "Here," she muttered, giving it to Sirius. He slowly opened the card, and she quickly averted her gaze to the floor in front of her. He began to read…

_You, Sirius Black, are my fire – the very flame that keeps my life burning, shining, and sparking stunningly. Merry Christmas._

_In Complete Owing of Life Itself,_

_Hermione Ann Granger_

_P.S. Thank you, my love…_

When finished, Sirius found himself unable to speak until he swallowed the lump in his throat, and when he did speak, his voice was hoarse with emotion.

"Thank-you, Hermione."

"Oh, save your thanks for later," she grinned and pulled open the door, but not before telling Sirius he needed to cover his eyes.

The sixteen adults exited the house, careful to keep their giggles of excitement concealed behind their mittens and scarves. Ginny nearly tripped in the snow after seeing how well the starlight was reflecting off of her Draco's flaming red hair, and choked on her laughter harshly.

Hermione was leading Sirius forward to where everyone had as requested, cleared a spot for his present to be placed.

With a deep breath, the clever witch whispered the okay to her boyfriend, and he slowly pulled his hand away from his face.

Black eyes were met with the most beautiful combination of gleaming metal, rubber, and plastic.

There sat, absolutely brand-new, glittering amidst the snow like an out of place black gem, was a motorcycle, fully equipped with the ability to fly.

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**A/N: **Okay, it's official – the Weasleys can _not_ have a civil meal without some sort of drastic revelation popping up to bitch slap them all. Poor Weasleys…

Read and review, please!


	14. Snow and Pickles

**I Want the Fire Back**

**Summary:** Hermione is obsolete – the War is over, Harry and Ron are busy, and she the mere Charms teacher at Hogwarts. When a presumably dead man comes back better than ever, she suddenly means everything... to him. SiHr

**Rating:** R for language, themes, sex, and whatever else may come out of my twisted little mind.

**Disclaimer:** It's not me who owns these characters or any plots associated with the Harry Potter books.

A/N**:** hand3: Yeah, a lot of people make Harry gay. Me, I do it because it'd be cute if he was with Ron, and he surely can't be with Ginny or Hermione because they have Draco and Sirius. Lol. And to my awareness, J.K. has never written anything to make people believe that Harry is or ever will be gay.

**Chapter 14:** **Snow and Pickles**

A few hours later, after Sirius had taken most of the people at the Weasleys for a quick ride on his bike, thankful for the cover of darkness (they flew, of course), they filtered back into the house. Ah, but so seemingly simple a task it was not. Ginny and Draco had already gone inside, due to Ginny's delicate condition and the severe cold. Arthur and Molly soon followed, smiling, but neither wanting to get behind Sirius Black on a motorcycle. So they, luckily, were not caught amidst the Snowball Fest of the century.

Not surprisingly, it was Fred that had started the whole thing. Sirius' bike was tucked neatly in the shed in the yard, and the troupe of people was skipping through the snow, happy for the clear night air. I mean, come on – how could Fred Gilbert Weasley resist chucking a tightly packed ball of snow at his little brother's face as he skipped through the snow?

"Ahckla!" Ron coughed as the ball of snow smacked him in the mouth, causing his green-eyed lover to laugh uproariously. Ron's death-glare silenced him, and to avenge himself, Ron cleared his mouth of snow turned around to face Fred, an evil glint in his eye.

"You are so dead."

And thus, war broke out. Teams were picked without a word being said, and the most steadfast couples broke up to wreak havoc on one another.

Fred manned one team, which consisted of Harry, Charlie, Percy, Tonks, and Hermione, while George controlled the other, with Ron, Bill, Penelope, Remus, and Sirius.

After being hit in the stomach with a snowball, Hermione ducked behind Harry, yelling, "No fair! You have _two_ Marauders _and_ a twin!"

Laughter ensued, and the three previously mentioned people grinned proudly before each smacking their own respective targets with the cold white substance.

Tonks ran behind Remus as he threw a particularly big snowball at Charlie, and tackled him to the ground, giving him an intense whitewash.

"Come on, Moony – you can't let your woman man-handle you like that!" Sirius laughed at his friend's misfortune and ducked Percy's poorly thrown snowball meant to hit Penelope.

"George, you're my favorite twin, but I know that I must do this," Fred spoke solemnly before magicking a four foot snowball in diamater to crash upon his identical brother's head.

"Oi!" Charlie yelled as he met Ron's snowball face-to-face.

Hermione was busy laughing at Tonks and Remus as they rolled across the snow, giggling madly. Using her distraction to his advantage, Sirius apparated so that he appeared a few feet in front of her and threw his weapon at her. The white slush exploded right in Hermione's face, ceasing her laughter.

"Ow!" she cried, bringing one hand up to her face and falling to her knees, her snowball still in the other.

Sirius gaped in shock, and immediately rushed to her side as she fell onto her back, still holding her face.

"Oh God, 'Mione, I'm so sorry!" he said, kneeling down next to her.

She suddenly stopped her pitiful moaning, and threw her own snowball into his very close in proximity face.

Grinning, she spoke from below him as he sat with his mouth open in surprise, "And you call yourself a prankster."

Snow dribbling from his face into his open mouth and down his chin, Sirius pretty much traded his bad boy image in for one of a clueless idiot.

Regaining his composure, he grinned evilly, realizing he had an advantage with being hovering over Hermione.

Grabbing a handful of snow, he rubbed it fervently in her face and hair, causing her to scream and laugh at the same time.

"Payback's a bitch," Sirius murmured, leaning down and brushing the snow gently away from his love's mouth. He placed his own over her cold skin, slipping his tongue inside and warming it greatly.

"Hmm…" Hermione whimpered, "That's better."

"Always is," Sirius smirked, arrogant once again, before helping her to her feet and turning her around to survey her very wet arse.

"I think we all need to go inside… and perhaps set ourselves on fire to warm up…" he mumbled as he suddenly felt just how cold his body had become and realized he could scarcely feel his ungloved hands.

Noticing the way he was rubbing his hands together, Hermione placed her own gloved ones over his and began leading him to the house, mumbling something about him being 40 bloody years old and still unable to have enough sense to wear gloves.

-----------------

Once inside, a fretting Molly, who was outraged at their obvious stupidity and neglecting of the dangers of freezing to death, assaulted everyone. After fending her off, persistently with the fact that they were all going to survive, she offered (somewhat commanded) that everyone should stay the night at the Burrow.

She made up sleeping arrangements quickly, before announcing to her guests that she was tired and would be heading off to bed. Goodnights were said, and thanks, as the elderly woman smiled and moseyed up the stairs to her bedroom.

Sirius, hungry from his actions in the snow, slunk into the kitchen quietly, eating some of the leftover dinner from earlier.

A forkful of stuffing halfway to his mouth, the kitchen light suddenly clicked on and Sirius turned to find Hermione laughing at him.

"I figured you would be in here," she smiled and stepped towards him, taking a piece off cold turkey off of the platter next to him.

"It's goo foo," Sirius spoke through a mouthful of the delicious stuffing.

"Well of course – you made it," she said sarcastically, but he chose to ignore her tone of voice and just nod emphatically.

"So," Sirius began, after swallowing his food, "Where are we-?"

"There you guys are!" Tonks interrupted, barging through the door with a handful of clothes. Hermione jumped and Sirius choked on his stuffing, coughing madly.

"Wotcher, Sirius! Don't want to eat so fast, now do we?" Tonks chided, completely unaware of the fact that she was the cause of the choking. "Here are some clothes Ginny sent down for the two of you," she held out a pair of sweats and a blue t-shirt to Hermione, and to Sirius she held out a pair of red plaid boxers and white t-shirt.

Hermione took her clothes promptly, but Sirius merely raised a questioning eyebrow at his.

"Oh!" Tonks realized the reason behind his hesitation, "They're Harry's, mate. No need to fear."

Smiling slightly, he took the boxers and shirt, and Tonks left them to their own devices, bidding them both a Merry Christmas and good night.

"Watch the door for me, Sirius?" Hermione requested as she pulled her Christmas sweater over her head and put the pajamas on.

He grunted in response, now munching on a piece of turkey.

As Hermione began slipping her black skirt and her red tights down her wonderfully smooth legs, Sirius' gaze flew to her, watching with severe vigor, still chewing on the turkey. The kitchen door began to swing open, and without averting his gaze, Sirius jerked his hand out instinctively, pushing roughly against the wood of the door to prevent the intruder from coming in. Unfortunately, the person had not expected this action from the rather large oak door, and it swung back and painfully struck them in the nose.

"Ow!" came the muffled cry from the other side of the entrance; causing Hermione to look up just as she finished pulling her shorts on.

"What was that?" she asked, looking at her boyfriend, who was still chewing and watching her avidly. He jerked out of his stupor and uttered a "Huh?" after looking between her and the door.

Sighing, Hermione opened the kitchen door slowly to find herself face-to-face with an irked Draco Malfoy, still sporting the horrid red hair.

"Oh! Are you alright?" Hermione asked, her hand flying to her mouth as she surveyed Draco nursing his nose, which seemed to be bleeding profusely.

"Just fibe," he spoke in a sarcastic, nasally voice as the former Head Girl pulled her wand out and tapped her mouth thoughtfully, trying to remember the right spell for such a predicament.

"Dammit!" she muttered angrily, upset with the fact that sleeping and exhaustion were clouding her thoughts so badly she could not remember the correct charm. "Sirius!" she swung the kitchen door open to reveal the man in the middle of changing into the boxers, his arse very much in view of his currently bleeding second cousin.

"AH!" Draco screeched, trying to cover his eyes and nose at the same time.

Stifling a giggle, Hermione swung the door back shut and turned to a now _very_ irked Malfoy.

"Um… I'm sure he'll be done in a second," she whispered, tears of mirth in her eyes, "And he probably knows the spell to fix your nose, Draco…"

Silver eyes flashed angrily at her as he pulled his hand away and focused back on his nose.

"Like I _knew_ he was naked!" she said in her defense, still trying not to laugh. _I deem that a fair payback for my earlier whitewash…_

Finally, breaking the silence between the two old enemies, Sirius exited the kitchen looking pissed.

"Granger," he began, causing Draco to snigger, which led to extreme discomfort, and then him making a strangled cry of pain.

Sirius turned his angry expression to the blond and looked surprised, "What happened to him?"

"_You _happened to him, you bloody git. Broke his sodding nose with the door!" she snapped.

Sirius looked taken back. "Oh… I did?"

Draco was now glaring so harshly that Hermione was afraid his eyes would pop from his head. "_Fix it_," he growled in what he hoped was an intimidating voice, but it really came off as a man in dire need of nasal spray.

Sirius nodded and pulled out his wand, muttering a quick spell he had learned years before and Draco muttered a thank-you as he rubbed his formerly broken asset. Pushing past the couple, he mumbled, "Come out here to get Virginia some pickles, get smacked in the face with a sodding door and get to see another man's arse…"

Hermione sputtered out laughter, only to stop after Sirius growled at her. "What?" she asked in faked innocence.

Before Sirius could answer her, Draco sprung back from within the kitchen, a jar of pickles in one hand and humming loudly, saying, "If it has anything to do with Black's arse, I don't want to hear it!" and bounded up the stairs.

"_That's_ what!" Sirius whispered frantically as Hermione smiled sweetly.

"Oh, _that…_ Yes, well, I'm sure Draco enjoyed it – I mean, who doesn't want to see Sirius Black in his birthday suit?" she mocked his earlier arrogance with a smirk on her face.

Hermione began to walk into the living room where Molly had arranged a bed for Sirius and her. Too tired to be angry at her any longer, the two cuddled up on the pullout couch, Sirius' arms wrapped around Hermione's waist, content and happy with the way their first Christmas together had gone.

"'Mione?" Sirius whispered against her hair.

"Hmm?" she mumbled, too tired to speak any longer.

"Thanks… not only for the bike, but… for being you. And loving me…" he kissed the top of her head as a small smile graced his love's lips, and she began drifting into sleep.

"No pro'lem, love…"

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**A/N: **Sorry it's short, but I'll update tomorrow, and I promise… um… something interesting! BREATH-TAKING! HEART-STOPPING! PALM-SWEATING! Ok, I'm done. Review please!!! Oh and **THANK-YOU** all so much for helping me reach the 100 review mark! If you guys update like that all the time I assure you my chapters will be longer and more interesting! It's very inspiring!


	15. Blink of an Eye

**I Want the Fire Back**

**Summary:** Hermione is obsolete – the War is over, Harry and Ron are busy, and she the mere Charms teacher at Hogwarts. When a presumably dead man comes back better than ever, she suddenly means everything... to him. SiHr

**Rating:** R for language, themes, sex, and whatever else may come out of my twisted little mind.

**Disclaimer:** It's not me who owns these characters or any plots associated with the Harry Potter books.

**Chapter 15: Blink of an Eye**

The morning after Christmas, Hermione was seated at the Weasley's kitchen table, still in her PJs, and deep in thought. Molly was the only other one up – she was in the kitchen washing dishes – and she had refused to take any help from the younger woman.

Bringing a finger to her lips, the salt of her skin slightly burned the chapped skin, but Hermione didn't even notice. She was so deep in thought; it was close to the way she had been in Hogwarts – completely unaware of her surroundings, or of people trying to get her interest. Even when the students had managed to get her attention, it was a very little bit, and she paid them little mind…

_Sirius Black. Sirius BLACK. SIRIUS Black. **SIRIUS BLACK.**_ _I'm going to _marry _Sirius Black. _But this, sadly, was not just a solely happy thought for the young Miss Granger. In fact, she was quite scared about the whole ordeal. _So soon… He's only been back for a couple of months… _Frustrated, Hermione tore a hand through her tangled hair and set down her coffee cup, trotting up the stairs in dire need to speak to her best girlfriend.

"Gin?" she knocked lightly, peering into the crack in between the door and frame where it was left slightly open. She glimpsed Draco's blond hair, still tipped with red, as he turned and rolled from the bed, his eyes barely open.

"Yes, Granger?" he mumbled, sleep slurring his usually drawling voice as he rubbed a hand over his eyes.

"I need to speak with Ginny, Draco. Could you give us a minute?" Hermione said, hoping her voice was as earnest as she wanted it to be.

He merely nodded as he opened the door all the way. "Going to go drown myself in the shower…" he mumbled as he tripped over to the bathroom.

Rolling her eyes, Hermione closed the door behind her and entered Ginny's old bedroom. It was pretty much the same – same old comforters, pillows, and collection of romance novels gracing the shelves. Same old Ginny.

Perching herself on the edge of the bed, she shook her redheaded friend's shoulder.

"Hmm?" she whimpered, turning over to find not Draco, but Hermione.

"What's going on, 'Mione?"

"Gin, I need to talk to you… about Sirius."

--------------------

Sirius turned over on the couch, groping blindly for the warmth that had left him a few hours ago. Finding that she had not returned, and that he was indeed alone on the couch, Sirius sighed and sat up, running a hand through his disheveled (but charmingly so) ebony hair.

He had not slept well. The sleep itself wasn't what was bad; it was the fact that it had taken him nearly three hours to do so. His mind had been on overdrive, thinking about Hermione and if the question he had asked was right. Knowing he couldn't sort out this mess without a little help, Sirius jogged up the stairs and burst into Remus' room without knocking.

"Moony!"

Tonks squealed and fell from the bed, thankfully still clothed properly, unlike Remus, who was only wearing his boxers.

"_Yes_, Padfoot?" he growled as he helped Tonks to her feet and she glared at her cousin.

"I _really_ need to talk to you," Sirius began, once again running his hand through his hair. He glanced at the couple and spoke again, "Tonks… could you maybe go… downstairs?"

Remus swore he saw his girlfriend's eyes flash red, but she nonetheless stomped down the stairs, but not before slamming the door behind her. The now brunette was a _very_ jovial person – unless you happen to wake her up in the morning.

"She'll be fine in an hour," Sirius assured his annoyed friend, dismissing Tonks' anger as nothing as he flopped down on the bed.

Restraining himself from growling, Remus looked his friend in the eye and asked him just what was so bloody important.

"See, Rem… It's about Hermione and me…"

--------------------

"Ahhh," Ginny sighed thoughtfully as she leaned back on the bed, crossing her legs. "You think you're too young, then?"

"Well, no-!" Hermione began, "I… know I love him, with all my heart… He's the most beautiful person I know. It's just – well, he's only been back since the beginning of term – I mean, isn't that a bit fast?"

The only female Weasley child nodded as she scratched a thin freckled leg. "But 'Mione – I don't want to put it this way, at all… But look at Harry's parents… and Dean and Parvati," Ginny's gaze wavered slightly as she mentioned her two fellow Gryffindors. They had died the previous year during the final battle, and they had been happily engaged three months prior.

Upset at her friend for bringing them up, Hermione snapped, "That was different, Ginny! Both times Voldemort had been living and it was a time of war…"

Ginny, matching her friend's own anger, snapped back, "Why's it so different, 'Mione? Voldemort may be dead, but evil sure isn't just going to stop! You know Sirius isn't going to stay at Hogwarts for another year – especially now that he's so much younger. He'd rather be out there doing the things he did at that age… He'd rather be an Auror," Ginny paused as Hermione's expression darkened in fear, but also at the fact that Ginny was absolutely right. "Your time together can be cut short, just like anyone else's was," Hermione opened her mouth to protest, but the younger woman continued, eyes averted to the blanket she sat on, "Our lives are short, Hermione. It's the price of being good. It's the price that we will pay everyday of our existence because we are the people who fight for what's just. We are the people that die for the sake of our cause."

Against her will, images and memories of all the deceased friends and people Hermione had ever known flooded into her mind vividly.

Lily and James…

Dean and Parvati…

Cedric Diggory…

Luna Lovegood…

Lee Jordan…

Oliver Wood…

Mad-Eye Moody…

Angelina Johnson…

Sirius.

Sirius had died once already… A tear leaked from her golden brown eye in remembrance of them all, and she bit her lip to keep from sobbing. Remembering a previous conversation with Sirius, Hermione recalled something she had said. _"If I ever lost you, I wouldn't live, Sirius. I'm to the point where life without you is not anywhere near what the tangible standard of living really is to me. I'm so bloody scared that something – someone – is going to take you away from me, and I'll be alone. I can't be alone. I spent five years alone, Sirius. I can't take any more. I need to know that you're here… you know, for good."_

And he had responded with a simple question, one question to erase all uncertainty. _"Do you doubt my love?"_

Of course the answer had been no. How could it have been anything else?

--------------------

"Do you love her?" Remus asked after listening intently on his best friend's slight doubts.

"Of course, Moony!" Sirius spoke incredulously, running a hand through his hair again.

"If you run your hand through your hair one more time you're going to go bald," the werewolf snapped but smirked as his friend quickly jerked his hand away from head.

"What am I going to do?" Sirius whined, pulling at a bare thread on the comforter.

Pausing for a moment, Remus thought of a way that would get Sirius to realize his true feelings. He wanted to make sure his friend didn't make some idiotic mistake because his past was full of unattached sex and lack of commitment.

"Well, Padfoot… let's assert the situation here, hmm?" Lupin began, causing Sirius to snicker and mutter an "Of course" under his breath.

"You've asked your current girlfriend, Hermione Granger, to marry you. She said yes. Now you're doubting… what, her love for you?"

Sirius shook his shaggy hair, "No, dear God no. That woman must love me in order to put up with all of my shit."

Remus snickered, but quickly turned solemn again. "Then let me ask you one final thing… Could you live without her?"

Sirius, moving past how cliché the question sounded, how cheesy, didn't raise his eyes from the floor as he whispered in an emotional voice. "No…"

"Then what exactly are you so afraid of, Sirius? I'm sick of trying to guess – just tell me," Remus commanded, rolling his eyes.

Surprisingly, Sirius didn't hesitate to tell him what exactly he was so afraid of. He dove right into his reasons of the doubt that plagued his mind.

"I'm afraid that I'll ruin Hermione's future… I don't want her to marry me in this spur of a moment thing just to find out that she should have someone better than me… Someone who can treat her like she deserves…"

Remus sighed and patted his friend on the shoulder, deciding that there was only one thing to truly fix his friend's foolish doubts.

"I think you'll have to talk to her about this, mate."

--------------------

"Hey," Sirius smiled as he approached his fiancée slowly. Both had been heading for the stairs at the same time, and had consequentially run into each other.

"Hey," Hermione echoed.

"Can we…?" he trailed off nervously.

"Talk?" the brunette provided helpfully.

"Yeah…"

Silence.

"I-" they both started, but Hermione gave a small smile and told him to go on.

"I just wanted to say that I love you, Hermione Ann Granger, and that I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I also wanted to say that I don't deserve you at all, but thank you so much… For just being you and loving me," black eyes darted anywhere but at the person he poured his emotions out to, afraid of the fact that he was giving her his heart and must now live with the fact that she had a permanent hold on him. _I hope I didn't sound like a complete prat, rattling on about love and thanking her and the lot… Sound like a bloody horrible muggle romance, I do. _

Hermione's smile wavered a bit as a tear leaked from her eye. "And I wanted to tell you, Sirius Lee Black, that I have never met someone in my entire life that could affect me like you do. There is no person on earth that I love as much as you, and I want to marry you with all my heart," here she grinned beautifully, "Life is just too short and you're just much too reckless to not marry so young," she finished and they both gave a nervous chuckle.

"So," Sirius began, taking both of her small hands in his, "Officially engaged then? Do I need to have Moony throw me a bachelor party?"

Hermione looked him in the eye, and something changed in her expression that Sirius did not understand.

"Before you do that, Sirius… I need to go home for a few days. I'm going to go back to stay with my parents, think things over, you know?" She had already told Ginny to tell the rest of her family that she had plans to meet her parents early that day, and that she was sorry that she had not been able to say a proper goodbye.

Obviously he did not know, for Sirius reacted as though she had struck him, and he looked almost betrayed as she scrambled to fix everything. _She doesn't want to be with me… She's leaving me…_

"I'm not saying no, Sirius!" He looked at her dubiously. "I already said yes, and I'm sticking to that." She stepped closer, so that they were eye-to-eye, with her looking up and him looking down. Finally, unable to ignore the honesty in her eyes, he gave a minute nod in acknowledgement.

"I just need to be alone… just for a little… But I'll see you on New Year's Eve, alright? I promise."

And with that, Sirius Black's fiancée apparated from the Burrow, leaving him alone the day after Christmas, with a mere lingering kiss on the lips.

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**A/N: **My grandma died today… so if you find this chapter weird, not up to par, or just plain crap - I'm sorry. But I did leave you with a bit of a cliffhanger, so review a lot and I promise to update ASAP.

**This chapter is fully dedicated to Lola M. Kluck – an uproarious woman who held herself true to her God and her family.**


	16. The Rebel Within

**I Want the Fire Back**

**Summary:** Hermione is obsolete – the War is over, Harry and Ron are busy, and she the mere Charms teacher at Hogwarts. When a presumably dead man comes back better than ever, she suddenly means everything... to him. SiHr

**Rating:** R for language, themes, sex, and whatever else may come out of my twisted little mind.

**Disclaimer:** It's not me who owns these characters or any plots associated with the Harry Potter books.

**Chapter 16: The Rebel Within**

Hermione spent the next four days at her parents' home, but hardly ever in their company. She had came out there to find herself, so after spending a late Christmas with her family, she locked herself away from everyone. No, not in her room – how can one find themselves in a little closed-up room?

She put her wand in a box and slid it underneath her bed. She threw all of her magic books and muggle books in a trunk and locked it. At the moment she didn't want to be muggle Hermione Granger or Charms professor Hermione Granger. Not Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley's friend. Not the murderer of Bellatrix Lestrange. Not the fiancée of Sirius Black.

She wanted to be Hermione Granger – and she knew just how to do it.

She spent days just wandering around in the woods, the solace she had discovered when she was a bushy-haired little girl with big teeth and an imagination to die for. It was where she could see the elves, talk to the nymphs, befriend the faeries, and beware of the witches (a bit ironic, that one is). She would return home, sometimes in the dead of night, sometimes in the early morning. She wasn't tired – a vast amount of sleep wasn't necessary when you're on a journey of self-discovery.

The woods were almost sterilely white from the snow, and it took a while for Hermione's eyes to adjust to the brightness. But day after day, she would bundle herself up in warm clothes, trudge out the door, and walk the woods, just thinking.

She had always enjoyed thinking... daydreaming, if you will. When boredom set in, just letting her mind wander and open had been the ultimate way to cheer herself up. But she was not only daydreaming as she walked the old paths of her woods, but she was remembering.

And all of this she was doing so that she could just remember _herself_. That little girl who had always been so sure about what she wanted, so positive in the light of the future.

_Come here, little Hermione,_ she thought lightheartedly, wishing her younger self forward to the present. It was always so much simpler to think when you're a kid… so easy.

Too bad that little girl didn't know that life wouldn't be nearly as effortless as having imaginary friends surround you in a forest.

-----------------

Sirius, on the other hand, had no parents' home to visit after his Christmas at the Weasley's. He returned to Hogwarts and spent a few days accompanying Dumbledore on walks through the castle, each talking as comfortably with one another as you would an old friend.

Dumbledore just had that charisma around him that made you want to open up, and Sirius, unsure on whether it was a magically based charisma or a personality based one, complied nonetheless.

"Sirius," the Headmaster began one day, as the two turned a corner in the dungeon area of the school, "I know you have quite adeptly avoided this question in previous conversations… but, dear boy, where is it that you have been the past five years?"

Sirius stiffened at the question but said nothing as he clasped his hands behind his back, staring at his black sneakers as they shuffled across the stone floor. Dumbledore decided to press on, "I have an idea… but I'm not quite sure on-"

"I don't really know what to _call_ it, Professor," Sirius whispered, eyes still glued to his feet. It was apparent that he had put up his defenses in the fact that he called Albus 'Professor'.

"A name means very little in this matter, Sirius. Just tell me what you felt… what you saw, perhaps?" Albus' eyes twinkled eloquently at the latter of the sentence.

Sirius, eyes still trained below the headmaster's gaze, missed the knowing look. "I saw… things happen… I knew they weren't real – I knew the creatures I saw weren't what they seemed…"

"What did they seem to be?"

"James… Lily…" Sirius' voice choked with emotion, result of the memories he was reliving from what he had seen in that place. Dumbledore gave him an encouraging nod to continue.

"I saw them… in a place… they were talking about how they could never lay at rest because their deaths weren't avenged, and they never would be. And I felt so guilty… so horrible. Then I saw Remus, and he was talking about me, and how he never should have trusted a Black, and how he hated me from the start… And I saw Peter – I saw him happy, with Harry… that's what made me realize it wasn't real – I knew Harry would never do that to his parents… Never… There were other things, too… People dying – people I love – I saw Voldemort come to power, kill my godson, and torture his friends. I saw him kill Ron and Hermione…"

The Headmaster nodded again, this time benevolently, as he patted his former student gently on the shoulder. But Sirius shook off the comforting touch.

"I didn't only _see_ it – I could hear it, _feel _it… The blood – everything was so real… I could have tasted it, if I had tried." Sirius sighed and ran a hand through his hair, wishing that the old man hadn't tried to find out what he had gone through. It was better the way it was before – he had been able to nearly forget about it, just lose himself in the moment… especially when he was with a certain clever woman who looked stunning in blue.

"Is that all?" Dumbledore asked, locking Sirius with a penetrating blue gaze just like ice. The Headmaster noticed with sorrow that Sirius' eyes appeared so utterly haunted, and their dark color only made it seem more so.

"What the hell do you mean, is that _all_?" the young man snapped, his temper coming out and lashing wildly. The same way it had when he was young… But he wasn't really young now, was he?

"I was merely trying to help-" Dumbledore began, but Sirius just took a sharp intake of breath and turned away, whispering quietly.

"It would really help if everyone would just leave the past alone…"

-----------------

Flopping backwards into the snow, Hermione giggled. She felt as if she had accomplished the task of drawing forth her younger self, and now had the sudden urge to make a snow angel.

As she began moving her arms and legs through the cold powder beneath her, she tried to sort out her thoughts with a more straightforward mind.

"Am I ready to get married?" she mused aloud, almost as if speaking to a magic eight ball, hopeful in receiving a positive answer.

_It'll be like a fairytale,_ the little Hermione's persona responded wistfully. _So much love… You'll be as happy as anyone could wish to be…_

"If that's true, why am I so afraid?"

_You think too much about the past… You're afraid that you will get hurt again._

"I suppose…" the woman bit down on her lip.

_His love should be enough to assure you that he would never let anything hurt you…_

Hermione straight up, snow flying from her messy hair, and got to her feet. Watching her breath form in odd patterns and shapes in front of her gaze, she turned back in the direction of her home. Willing her legs to be quick and spry despite the cold, she began to run, and in her mind had formed a mantra of truth in response to her earlier statement.

_It is… It is…_

-----------------

"Have you any idea how much I pity you?"

Sirius turned sharply as he heard the cold drawl from behind him. He had been returning to his quarters after his walk with Dumbledore, and was quite disappointed to find that the talk with one of his favorite people had not subdued his frustrations at the current moment. Now to make matters worse, as always, was Severus.

"What the fuck do you want?" Sirius snarled, clenching his hands at his sides and gritting his teeth. He hated Snape to the point where seeing his greasy face was enough to cause immediate regrettable actions to occur. Or maybe not so regrettable, depending how you look at it.

"Temper, Black. Mustn't have the students hear their dear professor cuss so strongly – oh, wait, you aren't even a real professor, are you?" Snape smirked triumphantly, hands clasped calmly behind his back, looking quite the opposite of an irate Sirius.

The taller man stepped forward, his black eyes boring into his age-old enemy. "I asked you what the _fuck_ you wanted – answer me now, or get the hell out of my sight, Snape."

"I asked you a question, _Black_," the potions teacher snapped, getting closer to Sirius' face. "Have you any idea how much I pity you?"

"I don't _need_ your pity – and for what reasons do you pity me? I believe my life's turned out a little better than a sad, lonely dungeon master's who has no one to love him."

"I pity you, because," the man with the crooked nose chose to ignore his last comment, "It must be dreadfully burdensome to live as a man with a past such as yours. Responsible for the deaths of your best friends… Perhaps responsible, even, for the rather horrendous rape of a Miss Hermione Granger. Perhaps if you had been there-" Fortunately at that moment, Sirius' fist had decided to party on Snape's face, and his torrent of vile accusations ended.

Severus stumbled back into the hard stone wall of the castle, bringing a hand up to his crooked nose, which now looked promising to be even more crooked in the near future.

"Don't you _ever_ talk to me again, you disgusting excuse for a human being, and I'll stay away from beating you to a bloody pulp and waxing the floors with your grease-soaked head, savvy?"

Glaring at him from beneath his bangs, hand still clutched desperately to his face, Snape nodded minutely and Sirius turned on his heel and walked away.

"You know I'm right…" trailed behind him, echoing through the halls like a traitorous whisper that would never leave his ears.

Which it might not.

-----------------

When Sirius finally did return to his quarters, he immediately knew that he was not alone. Thinking it might be his werewolf friend, he began speaking before he entered the living room.

"Moony, you wouldn't believe who I just walloped in the face-" his excited voice was cut off abruptly when he saw, not the ever-struggling expression bordering on approval and amusement, but the very disapproving look of his lover.

"And who might that be, Professor Black?"

Sirius squirmed under her scrutiny like he always had when McGonagall was about to yell at him for some new revelation of bad behavior.

"Erm… I can't remember," he finished lamely, looking at her through black wisps of hair and trying to appear as innocent as possible.

Hermione sighed and stood up from the couch she had taken residence on, stepping towards the uncomfortable Sirius.

Wrapping her arms around his neck, she lightly brushed her lips against his as he watched in surprise. Gently slipping her tongue inside his mouth, she moved it quickly around the crevices of his mouth, remembering him with as much zeal as she had earlier tried to remember herself.

When she pulled away, she smirked mockingly at him and said, "Do you remember now?"

Sirius made a face of disgust, "I sure _hope_ kissing you doesn't remind me of Snape!"

Hermione stepped away from him, triumphant at having gotten the information out of him, "Ah, so you hit Snape… Why, may I ask?"

He became rigid and waved it off with a careless motion of his hand, "It's nothing, really, 'Mione…"

"You hit him for no reason?" she asked, hands placed tersely on her hips.

"No, I – I had reason… just nothing that needs to be spoken of again." Sirius ducked his head lower, causing his bangs to fall in front of his eyes again. Self-defense mechanism. Without being able to view his expressive eyes, Hermione made a judgement on his body language, and decided that she needn't press any further on the topic. She trusted him, despite his rash and sometimes lamentable actions, to know how to act in particular situations.

"Alright, then," she beamed; changing her mood quickly as she grabbed Sirius' arm and led him back towards the door he had just entered through. She grabbed his coat and threw it to him on the way, and he caught it with a clueless expression.

"'Mione, where are we going?"

"It's New Year's Eve, and my parents are having a party… I think they would like to meet you before I tell them that we're engaged," the woman's eyes flashed between gold and brown for a moment as Sirius' feet seemed to stop moving, leaving them both standing in the middle of the hall outside of the room.

"They don't _know_?" he asked in amazement.

"No," Hermione shook her brown waves of hair and bit her lip.

"Oooh… so they don't know that we're in looove? That you can hardly keep your hands off of me, and that we shag at least six times a week-?"

"Six? Really? Well Tonks and I…" Remus, who had virtually popped out of nowhere to the oblivious couple, smirked at Sirius' pained expression.

"That's my _cousin_, Moony!"

"Yes, and I think of that fact every time we're in bed together, Padfoot," Remus shook his head uncertainly with a small smile on his face. "So where are you two kids headed off to?"

"My parents'," Hermione responded, shooting Sirius a pointed look.

"What?" he asked.

"You better not start talking about how many bloody times we shag, Sirius Lee Black, or so help me…"

Sirius made a whining noise, but nonetheless nodded compliantly, before turning eagerly to Remus, who watched the whole exchange with an elevated eyebrow.

"Guess who I walloped today…!"

-----------------

"I'm a little nervous," Hermione bit her lip as she held Sirius' hand as they exited the castle and began walking across the grounds towards Hagrid's.

"Love, why are we walking towards Hagrid's?" Sirius asked in a confused tone. "Because, you know, if we take him with us, I'm sure your family would realize we're just a little bit non-muggle…"

Hermione laughed at the terms he used, and shook her head. "We're going to take your bike. You know, the bike that's sitting in Hagrid's shed?"

"Ooh, so you do have a little bit of a rebellious side to you!" Sirius grinned cheekily and kissed Hermione's ear. "Showing up at your parents' place with some guy on a motorcycle… admirable, Granger."

"It's a teenage girl's dream, to do that… now that I have the chance, I figured, why not?"

Sirius unlocked the shed with an almost giddy manner, throwing open the doors to reveal his precious baby, still gleaming new.

"Ah," he exhaled deeply, a beautiful glint in his eye. "Come here, precious," he approached the bike as one would a beautiful but dangerous hippogriff.

"Don't wet yourself," Hermione smirked as she watched him push the bike free of the confines of the small building she was housed in.

"You're just jealous," Sirius grinned as he mounted the bike, stroking the handle lovingly.

Rolling her eyes, Hermione got on behind him, wrapping her arms around Sirius' leather jacket at his waist. As he revved the engine, emitting a beautiful sound, he turned to face her, unable to keep a grin off his face at this point.

"Fly most of the way, then find a good place to land and ride the rest?"

She nodded, and as he turned around, smiled jubilantly at the sure way her rather proper aunts and uncles would respond to this arrival. Oh, not to mention her horribly envious cousins…

-----------------

Hermione's heart skipped a beat as she observed Sirius from behind. The way the wind swept his hair back catchingly, how his earring danced amidst it, the flame burning a vibrant Gryffindor red. He had that wonderfully amazing rebel without a cause effect on her… but perhaps he was not without cause – no, certainly this man had cause to be a rebel. More than one, to be completely honest.

They rounded the last corner that led to her house, and Hermione tapped him on the shoulder before pointing out which house it was.

There were already quite a few cars parked in the driveway, and a few small children ambled about the front yard with a blue basketball.

Hermione's heart skipped another beat – her parents hadn't told her that the _whole_ sodding family would be there. Although she loved her parents, the rest of her family weren't the nicest bunch, and she was vividly reminded of that as she saw most of the aforementioned people rushing outside, the women dressed up in fancy dinner party dresses and the men in slacks and sweaters.

Biting her lip resolutely, she slid off of the seat of Sirius' precious as he did the same. _Alright, 'Mione… this is the family that calls you a freak behind your back – that thought you went to some 'special' school all year to avoid your parents any hassle… Now it's time to show them just how _special _you really are._

-----------------

**A/N: **Okay, please read and review! I'm sorry if this chapter is short, I'm trying to hurry because I actually have to be at a funeral in an hour…

Tell me what you think of it, and I promise the next chapter will have many of Hermione's snooty relatives' reactions, and it should be amusing…


	17. The Fortune Cookie

**I Want the Fire Back**

**Summary:** Hermione is obsolete – the War is over, Harry and Ron are busy, and she the mere Charms teacher at Hogwarts. When a presumably dead man comes back better than ever, she suddenly means everything... to him. SiHr

**Rating:** R for language, themes, sex, and whatever else may come out of my twisted little mind.

**Disclaimer:** It's not me who owns these characters or any plots associated with the Harry Potter books.

To Fey the Rabid Clown Killer: Don't worry, you didn't offend me! Lol, not really anyways. I really do appreciate the review, and for that I'm going to be more conscious of my story and certain things in it, so I do thank you. :) And in a way, aren't most of us fan fiction authors bumbling?

**Chapter 17: _The_ Fortune Cookie**

Hermione beamed at her family as they surveyed her and Sirius with a disapproving eye.

The drop dead gorgeous man in the leather coat took his woman's arm and she led him inside as her family parted like she was Moses and they were the sea.

"Hello, Hermione," Ann Granger grinned at her only child as she came in the front door. "Who's your friend?"

"This is Sirius Black, mum," Hermione smiled as she heard whispers flood the room, her family talking about how odd a name that was.

"Oh, here, I'll talk your coats," Robert Granger smiled politely at his daughter's 'friend', and gingerly took Sirius' leather coat and Hermione's own wool one before traipsing off to the bedroom to toss them on the bed.

Sirius felt wonderfully out of place in his dark blue jeans and tight white t-shirt, but was reassured when he noticed that Hermione was equally casual in her light blue sweater and jeans.

Wrapping an arm possessively around her mate's waist, she steered him through the people and into the living room. To his delight, there were even more fancied up people there.

A girl a few years older than Hermione approached, wearing a tight green cocktail dress, her thin heels clicking distinctly on the wooden floor.

"Ah, Herm! How have you been, dear girl?" the girl flicked a wisp of blond hair out of her hazel eyes, speaking to Hermione but looking at Sirius through fake lashes.

"Hello, Ida. Sirius, this is my cousin," Hermione pointed them out to one another with a slight glare at her disgusting cousin.

Ida held out her hand as one would do to a man expecting a kiss on the knuckles, but Sirius merely nodded at her and moved closer to Hermione. The girl had the courtesy to seem a little miffed, and she quickly puller her hand back down to her side.

"Oh wait until I tell Jilly, she'll be thrilled that you brought a date, _Herm_," Ida continued, using the horrid nickname she had created for her younger cousin as her eyes screened the party. "Oh, I think I see her now – I'll be right back! And don't _you_ go anywhere," she added with a sly look at Sirius, who withheld a vomiting noise.

"She is absolutely _vile_," Sirius muttered when Ida had dashed off to find Jilly.

"I'm aware," Hermione muttered in a dark voice, to which Sirius bent down and kissed her cheek.

"S'alright, love. So, is there anyone else you want me to meet?" he asked, his eyes scanning the room in a bored fashion.

"Actually, I think it would be nice for you to meet my Aunt Gineve," Hermione bit her lip as she scanned the room on her tiptoes. After finding her aunt, she tugged on Sirius' arm, and he followed her obediently to the couch.

Plopping down with an over-enthusiastic smile, Hermione gained her aunt's attention and introduced Sirius.

With a tight smile that didn't meet her eyes, Gineve studied Sirius, taking obvious disdain on his choice of clothing and hair.

"And what do _you_ do?" she asked, with emphasis on the 'you', implying she obviously disapproved of Hermione's teaching position at a boarding school.

"I'm a substitute at the school Hermione teaches at," Sirius offered the older woman a flirtatious smile, knowing it would disturb her.

"Ah… so you work with the delinquents, also?" the woman sneered unpleasantly, and Sirius held back a growl of displeasure. This woman was referring to Hogwarts as the Dursleys had when Harry had lived with them.

"Oh, no, actually – the kids there aren't delinquents – they're very talented and intelligent children. I myself was schooled there," Sirius grinned proudly as he picked up a glass of wine from a nearby tray set up on a coffee table. He knew full well that this pompous woman would now believe that Sirius had been a delinquent also.

"Yes, just like our… Hermione here," Gineve smiled stiffly, attempting to fake pride at her niece's schooling. "Did you two graduate together?"

"Actually," Sirius began with a small chuckle and Hermione hid a laugh behind her palm, knowing what he would say next, "I graduated from there a good twenty years prior to 'Mione."

The woman snorted derisively in response and raised an eyebrow. "How old are you, then?"

"I figured you would be able to figure that simple riddle out for yourself. If your niece is twenty, and I graduated twenty years before her… well I'm no mathematician, but I'd say that would make me forty years old."

The woman glared disdainfully at Sirius, her lips pursed in anger. Deciding that was his cue to move on to other prey, Sirius grabbed Hermione's hand and led her away from the fuming wench.

A few minutes later, as the two lovers were seated with a more pleasant group of people, an elderly woman passed by them, and shooting a dark look towards Hermione, spoke in what she thought was a hushed tone, "Kids now… it's all about lust… they have no conception of love."

Speaking loudly, Sirius smiled, "Did I ever tell you guys that Hermione saved my life?" A murmur of approval and shock chorused around the occupants of the room that heard that statement, and those who didn't hear were soon told by one who did.

Nodding, Sirius continued. "Yeah… she saved me. I was in… hell, of a sort. Physically and emotionally – I had gotten myself lost in a sea of despair, and this gorgeous woman saved me… She didn't even mean to, either. Her beauty and her heart and her intelligence, and most of all – her love - saved me, and she didn't even have to try."

Sirius, although he had started his rant to annoy the old woman and put her in her place, had finished staring at the golden brown eyes of his savior, emotion showing evidently in his gaze.

Smiling, she let her hand grip his tightly for a moment, whispering, "I love you."

The crowd around them, although not partial to Sirius, still looked impressed with the show of sincerity the two displayed for one another.

This act was soon forgotten, though, as the Granger family's older generation became more active in the night's discussions. After the fourth woman Sirius met gave him a dirty look and scoffed at his tales of exuberant pranking during his youth, he decided that it was time to wreak a little vengeful havoc.

Telling Hermione he was going to the restroom, he received the directions to the first floor bathroom and trotted off in search of relief.

Surprisingly enough, it was not Sirius Black that returned from the lavatory, but a certain shaggy dark animal with a smirking jowl.

Hermione noticed at once that there was some sort of disruption near the area she had last let her boyfriend from her sight and immediately stood to find out what was happening.

Suddenly the large black dog bounded away from the group of people that had surrounded him, tongue hanging out and slobbering on anything in a two-foot radius of him. Gasping in surprise, Hermione managed to squeal, "Snuffles!"

A vast amount of unwanted attention was granted to the young woman, who, in mid-step, had paused and now remained with one foot much farther in front of the other, her mouth slightly open. Although most people present may have missed the way the corners of her mouth twitched upwards in the beginnings of a giggle.

At her mother's mild glare, the teacher of Charms quickly rambled out an explanation.

"Um… I meant, well, he… looks like my dog… Snuffles…"

"You have a dog?" her father asked with a raised eyebrow, knowing how much Hermione had protested against keeping pets locked in a home for human's pleasure.

Unable to hide a smile, she responded quietly, thinking of her precious Animagus, "In a way… Yes, I suppose I do."

"Well, that still doesn't explain how this _look-alike _mutt got into the house," Gineve snorted as if the whole situation were below her.

The 'look-alike mutt' growled at this, and almost looking as if he winked at the intelligent brunette to the left of him, he dashed off towards the kitchen.

People squawked from fright and dashed out of the dangerous path of the _obviously _rabid beast.

Gineve screamed wretchedly as Sirius managed to pull a nearby tablecloth off, spilling all sorts of pudding and other deserts on her dress.

Snuffles continued his belligerent rampage, trying his best to only startle people and not mess up the house _too_ horribly for Hermione's parents.

He was soon shooed out the door by a very angry man who Hermione had earlier mentioned as her Uncle Scott. He was 37 years old, very good looking, and happened to have an idiosyncrasy for dating girls half his age.

Biting her lip to keep from laughing at her aunt, Hermione retreated back to the safety of her couch, hoping Sirius would manage to enter back into the home without looking too peculiar.

Her hopes were reassured when Sirius came back with an excuse of, "After I went to the bathroom, I decided to have me a nice long smoke." Despite the fact that this made Hermione's family dislike him even more (oh what a _shame_), it was a fairly solid excuse for the reason that he would have gone outside to inhale the cancer-stick. No one felt it their duty to mention the possessed dog that had disturbed them so horribly.

Being the mature young man that he was, Black once again grew bored with the people at the function and began trying to count how many guests seemed to have rather large objects shoved up their arses. Surprisingly, very few remained free of being tallied.

"Ginny says that I bloody well can't get married until after the baby's born," Hermione spoke in a hushed tone, trying to start a conversation with her uninterested beau.

A response she had not expected occurred at this tidbit of information.

Sirius yelped and fell from his seat, falling into an uncharacteristically traumatized state.

"_What _baby?!" he screeched, his voice unusually high.

Confused at first, Hermione reviewed her wording of the previous sentenced and blushed at the strange looks people were giving them. Then it hit her, and she scowled. "_Her_ baby, Sirius."

"Oh," he picked himself up from the polished wooden floor and seated himself on the black leather couch with as much grace and reverence as he could muster. "Well give an old man a heart attack, will you?" he whispered, using his own turn to scowl.

Before Hermione could respond, Sirius noticed how irritated the guests were at the young couple's sudden outburst. "S'alright folks – no, she didn't throw me off the couch – I just thought she may be pregnant, is all." He made a sigh of relief and grinned antagonistically at the crowd as their annoyance grew rapidly.

_Great, now they think I'm some great big slut,_ Hermione thought, half of her happy for their annoyance, half slightly deterred by the fact that she had also strived so vivaciously to please people and was now throwing all of that out the window. Well, at least when it came to the particularly vulgar and malevolent part of her family, it was being thrown out the window. And oh what a beautiful, large window it was.

Hermione lightly punched Sirius in the arm, an act she had picked up on performing from years spent around Ron and Harry. He mocked hurt and wrapped his arm around her possessively, breathing in quietly to get a whiff of her hair.

"Speaking of mothers," Sirius referred lightly to the expecting young Ginny, "Whatever happened to mine? You know, the portrait at Grimmauld Place." She noticed an imperceptible shudder pass through his body as he mentioned his childhood home, although he had already revisited again recently. _It must have been horrible. Damn his family… Well, except for the part where their actions somehow resulted in their son managing to become a brave, wonderful man despite his upbringing. _

Blushing suddenly, she began to answer his query. "Well… after you… died, or whatever, we were at Grimmauld Place for Order work, and she was screaming about how greatly you deserved to die at the much more worthy hand of your cousin, Bellatrix. I was holding my wand, and without meaning to… well, I didn't even _do_ anything…" Sirius, bursting of curiosity, looked at her eagerly at her weighty pause.

"And she sort of burst into flames…" she mumbled.

Loud, barking laughter met her ears, and Hermione looked up shyly, her cheeks tainted red. "You toasted her? Must have been a powerful spell, it's not as if I've never tried that before!" Black eyes twinkled in mirth as he quieted his voice again – the Grangers were giving them an even greater amount of stares.

"That's the thing, though – it wasn't even a spell – it was just my emotions getting the best of me… But the worst part of it all was when the whole damn house nearly burnt to the ground – Remus and Harry had to help me put out the fire," she giggled.

Sirius' face darkened. "You should have let it burn to the ground."

Realizing he had replaced his defensive walls up and donned an impassive expression, Hermione sighed. "We wouldn't let all of your things burn up…"

He snorted. "What things could I possibly have had in that house of any worth?"

"You mean, besides your multitude of pictures of Lily and James that were already returned to your possession?"

"Oh… well, yes… there's that. Anything else, Miss Know-it-all?" his usual smirk returned, causing his lover's mood to lighten greatly.

Hermione tilted her head to the side (one of Sirius' favorite actions of hers), thinking for a moment. She abruptly recalled a certain object that she had shown no one except Harry. "Oh, I do recollect a certain diary from the age of… hmmm, sixteen, perhaps?"

Sirius' face lost all color. "No… I… never kept a diary…"

"Oh really?" her voice dripped like venomous honey as she appeared to contemplate her memories of it. "So you never slept with two girls in one night, getting only an hour of sleep, and still managed to receive full marks on your transfiguration exam the next morning?"

Sirius sniffed sardonically. "That's common knowledge – tell me something that only a diary would have."

Glaring at him slightly, she slipped back into her thoughts, trying to grasp a piece of juicy blackmail. "Ah! How about, Lucius Malfoy hit on you a series of three different times, and once succeeded in landing you under some charmed mistletoe?"

Sirius' face, recovering from draining all color, now flushed a vibrant red. "You tell _no_ one."

She smirked. "Harry already knows."

"Ah, _fuck_." ****

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**A/N: **SO SORRY that it took me so long to update – I had a wake to attend, a showing, and a funeral, and I could never seem to find the time to write enough at once. I apologize. But I do thank you all so much for the reviews! Please review! ****

**Love is the only thing about which it is impossible to say anything absurd. **

- Fortune Cookie


	18. Secretive Much?

**I Want the Fire Back**

**Summary:** Hermione is obsolete – the War is over, Harry and Ron are busy, and she the mere Charms teacher at Hogwarts. When a presumably dead man comes back better than ever, she suddenly means everything... to him. SiHr

**Rating:** R for language, themes, sex, and whatever else may come out of my twisted little mind.

**Disclaimer:** It's not me who owns these characters or any plots associated with the Harry Potter books.

**Chapter 18: Secretive much?**

"Engaged? But… you're so young…" Ann Granger bit her lip as she looked from her daughter to her fiancé, adding, "Both of you. Are you sure you're ready?"

The guests had left soon after the clock had chimed midnight, announcing that it was indeed a new year, and they said their goodbyes, most of them forcing smiles as they parted with the dubious couple. Hermione was happy that she could have some alone time with her parents and boyfriend to discuss the matter at hand.

Sirius gave a small chuckle and placed his hand on the small of Hermione's back, causing her to instinctively step closer to him in a way of defending their relationship.

"Actually, Mrs. Granger-"

"Call me Ann, please," the older woman smiled warmly, despite her protests of their actions.

"Alright – Ann, I'm not as young as you believe." The _young_ man raked a hand through his dark locks, revealing his earring. The flame was dancing vibrantly, showing that his nerves were on edge a bit.

"Well you couldn't possibly be too much older than our daughter, could you?" Robert Granger asked as he surveyed Sirius with a good-natured fatherly sizing up expression.

"It's quite surprising, actually…" Sirius laughed nervously, unsure as to how to continue. These people were muggles after all – he didn't exactly know how to explain it to them that he had gone to prison wrongly convicted and his government had tried to make up for taking twenty years of his life away from him.

Thankfully, his future wife noticed his discomfort and came to the rescue. "Mum, you recognized his name, didn't you? Sirius is… well, I told you about him after third year… and after fifth. He was Harry's godfather."

Mrs. Granger raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Harry's _godfather_?" she looked incredulously at the man in question before shaking her head.

"I know that wizards may be a little different than us," Robert spoke up, "But I don't see how you can still look so young. Especially after everything Hermione told us you went through. I mean, she told us earlier this term that you came back from the dead, but…" The man gave up trying to solve this perplexing puzzle and settled for rubbing his hand over his eyes from exhaustion, his thick rimmed glasses in hand.

"It's quite simple, really," Hermione assured her parents, and Sirius noted with amusement that she spoke to them with the same fervor she did everyone else when it came to explaining complications. "The Ministry of Magic – and more so Mr. Weasley, the minister – have tried to recompense Sirius for locking him in prison for half of his life, falsely convicted and without trial. So they used a spell to reverse the past twenty years of aging on him… and, well… he didn't turn out so bad, did he?" Hermione finished with a smirk at him and he gave her a playful glare as her parents struggled to comprehend the information. They still had trouble understanding the entire wizarding world concept– but who could blame them? They had been brought up without any knowledge of that world and had considered everything alike to it a fairytale or myth.

"You're dating an ex-convict," Ann mumbled, her eyes slightly wide.

"Engaged to, actually," Sirius provided helpfully, causing Hermione to smack him. "But I was completely proven innocent and cleared of all charges."

"Don't they believe in 'innocent until proven guilty'?" Hermione's father asked, confounded.

"Most of the time… but in my case, the crime I _committed_ was so horrible and there was _no_ possible way that it wasn't me who had done it…" He sighed, shaking his head.

"But you _didn't _do it!" Ann protested, her wariness making her more emotional about her future son-in law. Although still weary about the marraige proposal, she did like Sirius. She had been vividly aware that his earlier act was to annoy and disturb Hermione's snobbish relatives, and she did not blame him for his actions.

"We know, mum, we know…" Hermione reached for Sirius' hand. "We've known for a long time…"

-------------------

"A new year… and we get to spend it together," Hermione whispered thickly in her sleep-coated voice. They had returned to Hogwarts a few hours prior, but hadn't really gotten around to actual _sleep_ for quite a while. That was mainly because of the countless times Hermione had to convince Sirius that her parents didn't hate him, not because of the intense love-making.

"Sounds good," Sirius mumbled as he rolled over, thoroughly pinning Hermione to the bed with his arm tossed around her waist.

Unable to resist, the sleepy-eyed woman smiled and began lightly stroking the equally tired man's tattoo, her eyes traveling over it with fascination in the dull moonlight.

"Hmm… tickles," Sirius made a small throttled noise that sudden like a giggle.

_He looks adorable… And content_, Hermione mused as she observed his long lashes and dimples as he smiled sleepily, his eyes blinking for increasingly long amounts of time.

"Sleep," she kissed his cheek and turned over, pressing her back against his chest so that he instinctively re-wrapped his arm around her waist.

-------------------

Finding it extremely difficult to open her eyes for longer than a few seconds, due to the bright sunlight streaming into her bedroom, Hermione settled for long blinks until her eyes adjusted.

_Ugh… so damn sunny…_ When she noticed the alarm clock, she became aware of just why the day was so dazzling.

"Noon? It's noon?" she groaned, rolling over and discovering that Sirius was missing.

"I smell sex and candeee, ye_ah_…"

_Ah, follow the sound of off-key singing to the shower and find Sirius. I might have to keep him away from my CDs if he keeps this up_, she giggled to herself as she heard his voice rise unbearably high and drift back to a baritone. She knew he was singing so revoltingly just so she would hear him – always was one for being all-annoying.

Her mind soon clouded over with thoughts of the New Year and what was expected of it. Because of this, she missed the shower being turned off and the bathroom door opening.

"Ah, you're up!" Sirius grinned knowingly as she swiveled around to meet his gaze – or rather his naked form.

Her cheeks immediately flushed from the view, but she managed to hide it quite well with the false lack of interest in her expression.

"Have you seen my black boxers, love?" he asked as he bent down, attempting to look under a nearby wardrobe for the aforementioned garment.

"I ate them during the throws of passion."

"Ah, a bit sarcastic this morning? Perhaps I just handle a hangover better than you," Sirius continued looking for his precious underwear – he really hoped he hadn't lost his favorite pair.

"I didn't drink last night," Hermione spoke slowly as she watched her fiancé, a frown flitting across her face.

Sirius stood up straight, changing his expression to one of a more neutral pose. "Well, no, of course… Either did I…" Reaching up he grabbed his boxers from the ceiling fan with a false innocence.

"Erm… didn't you wear those yesterday?" she asked as she scratched her elbow and he slipped them on.

"Yes, well, we're in your bedroom and I don't have any clothes here… and it's not as if they're _dirty_. But I figured I shouldn't run stark naked through the hall to my room – the students already think I'm lascivious enough as it is." He shot her a pointed look and she donned his own false innocence. Shrugging indifferently, she said, "It's not that bad a sight – I'm sure at least the female population of Hogwarts wouldn't mind so much."

"Well I _know_ that," he began the tedious search for his t-shirt as Hermione dressed, chuckling at his cockiness.

After a few moments, he growled, "Dammit, woman! If you keep throwing my clothing around in your hurry to shag me, I'll have nothing left to wear!"

"Talk about superfluous information," a voice spoke from the kitchen.

The couple retreated from the bedroom to find the owner of the voice, and Sirius was not surprised to find Remus standing near the doorway. Hermione was completely clothed, whereas Sirius was still lacking a shirt, but had succeeded in recovering his pants.

"The way you were talking I was afraid you were naked, so I was fearful to venture any further into the room," Remus smiled.

"It's not like you haven't seen it _before_, Moony!" Sirius laughed as he walked to the coffee maker, his bare feet padding silently on the floor.

"That was an _accident_," Remus blushed, his amber eyes narrowed in his friend's direction.

Hermione snickered, shaking her head. "I don't even want to know."

Remus blushed further, but followed her wishes to be left in the dark.

"So what are you doing here so early?"

Remus raised his eyebrow. "It's lunchtime, not early, Padfoot. So I figured we could catch a bite to eat, considering no one got to see you two last night."

"So you're planning on having Harry and everyone come?"

Remus nodded, "They're all waiting in the hall – I was the only one brave enough to hazard my health by gathering you two."

Sirius watched him over his cup of coffee for a moment before grinning. "They made you do it, didn't they?"

The werewolf sighed and nodded, defeated. "I wanted to draw straws."

"We better get going then," Hermione said, straightening her green blouse and heading towards the door.

"But I don't have a shirt!" Sirius whined, hands on his hips.

"Here's your damn shirt," Remus picked the white cloth from a nearby chair before tossing it to his friend.

The trio exited the quarters, meeting up with Harry, Ron, and Tonks.

"Supporting Slytherin today, 'Mione?" Ron teased as he eyed her shirt with mock disgust. It made her grin that Harry had his arm around the taller man's waist, smiling aloofly.

"I never told you guys this, but – the Sorting Hat considered putting me into Slytherin. The only thing that got me into Gryffindor is my muggle heritage," Hermione shook her head, a small smile of relief on her lips. _Things would have been so different if I hadn't been a Gryffindor…_

Sirius shuddered. "It was the same for me – a decision between Gryffindor and Slytherin."

"Me too," Harry spoke, his voice quieter than the rest.

"I guess we're not as different from them as we like to think," Remus said with a thoughtful expression.

"Well, look at Draco," Tonks supplied before brushing a piece of blue hair from her eyes.

"He's the only decent one, and he sure didn't start out that way," Ron scoffed, finding it still slightly difficult to be so considerate towards the young Malfoy.

The group began walking down the hall towards the outside entrance, various couples linking arms or holding hands.

"Snape, too – as malicious as he may be, he fought the good fight," Remus spoke in a restrained voice, proving how little he still thought of the greasy man.

"He's still a bastard," Sirius growled, his eyes flashing as he pulled Hermione tighter to him.

The six of them entered the Three Broomsticks fifteen minutes later, ready for food and merriment. They chose a large table near the back of the establishment… the same table Sirius and Remus had sat at twenty-three years prior when they were still at Hogwarts.

Sirius glanced at Harry, the spitting image of James, and saw him with his gaze concentrated on his redheaded lover. Although not of the same sex, the red hair remained the same, alike to Lily's. Sirius would be next to James, who sat in Harry's seat and Ron in Lily's. Then Remus next to him, and Peter where Tonks was. Black eyes narrowed in the direction of the seat where Peter had been, and Tonks frowned in response.

"Did I do something to piss you off, Siri?"

"Huh?" He shook his black mane and focused on his cousin. "No, I'm… I was just thinking…"

"Alright, mate…" she looked concerned for a moment, but was distracted as the waitress made herself present to take orders.

She was pretty, with crimpy light brown hair and dark blue eyes, a beauty mark to the left of her full lips. She offered the occupants of the table a tight smile, something one forces to have solely for work duty, until her eyes rested on Ron. He appeared to her, single, for he was only sitting next to Harry and Hermione, and the latter was glued to other man next to her.

She obviously liked the freckles and hair, because she grinned dazzlingly at him as she scribbled down Remus' order.

Harry stiffened at this, his green orbs watching Ron from the corner of his eye. Ron, ever oblivious, grinned back at the waitress, figuring she was being her normally polite self, causing Harry to glare.

When the tart had finally moved on, Ron continued smiling, "Nice waitress, that one was."

Hermione almost had to physically restrain herself from groaning and slapping a hand to her forehead. Ron could be _such_ a dolt.

"I'm going to go to the bathroom," Harry said sulkily before stomping off in that direction.

Sirius, when he wanted to be, could be just as oblivious as Ron, "Hey, you know what they say – whenever someone goes to the bathroom, it makes the food come!"

_Harry can be such a _girl_ sometimes,_ Hermione smiled fondly, knowing completely that she would have done the same thing had she been in his position. Which she had been, many times before…  
The rest of the meal passed uneventfully, and Harry seemed to have forgiven Ron just for the sheer fact that Ron was too cute to be angry with.

---------------

"Happy New Year," Harry had given his godfather a hug outside of the Three Broomsticks. He and Ron were returning to their apartment in London while Tonks went back to her home, and the remaining three returned to the school.

"Want a cookie?" Sirius asked from his perch on the cupboard where he was swinging his legs and munching on baked goodness.

"We just ate!" Hermione laughed as she set her coat on her kitchen table. Remus had decided to retire to his own quarters, saying that the next full moon was coming up and he needed his beauty sleep.

Hermione approached her lover as he finished his first cookie, and she positioned her waist in between his legs, causing them so stop swinging. Her stomach was level to the edge of the cupboard, and she placed her hands on his thighs. Sirius stopped, mid-bite, to watch her, black eyes wide and interested.

_A new year… Time to be completely honest – no more secrets…_

Hermione's brown eyes seemed unnaturally poignant as she touched his cheek briefly before pulling away and turning her face towards the floor. "Sirius… I have a son."

------------------

**A/N: -smirk-** I highly suggest you leave many reviews – and if you're utterly confused, don't worry – all will be cleared up in the next chapter. Love you all, and thank you for the previous reviews! It sounds kind of odd that she said it so abruptly, but everything will be explained next chapter! I promise!

Oh, and you may have noticed that Hermione's line about Sirius' boxers ("I ate them in the throws of passion.") is quoted from an episode of Roseanne. It's Darlene, their incredibly cynical daughter – I worship her.


	19. Stuck

**I Want the Fire Back**

**Summary:** Hermione is obsolete – the War is over, Harry and Ron are busy, and she the mere Charms teacher at Hogwarts. When a presumably dead man comes back better than ever, she suddenly means everything... to him. SiHr

**Rating:** R for language, themes, sex, and whatever else may come out of my twisted little mind.

**Disclaimer:** It's not me who owns these characters or any plots associated with the Harry Potter books.

**amber:** Please refrain from saying there isn't _any_ foreshadowing in my story, thanks. It may not be specific enough, though, the little that there is. I said if anyone is confused, then it would _all_ be explained in the next chapter. And as for the father issue – I'm very surprised no one figured it out – it's quite obvious, I believe. And this was not a last-minute addition, but it may still be a tricky road. Lol.

**Chapter 19: Stuck**

_Why in the _hell_ did I just say that? _Hermione swung her gaze from the floor to meet Sirius', which was blank with shock. She took a step back, then another. She hadn't even given him any warning – she had _not_ planned on telling him like that. It was just the pressure of a New Year and starting over and… it had been so hard to hide it from him in the first place… _Oh God, please… Please help me…_

Sirius' mind was not nearly as active in continuous thoughts as Hermione's was. His only even remotely coherent thought was, _WHAT?_

So he voiced it.

She winced at the harsh tone he had used without realizing it, but she bravely carried on. "A son… he'd be seven months old, I believe…"

Sirius' mind seemed to come back into the working force as that information clicked into his head. He had met Hermione four months ago, in September. Her son would have been born three months before. Nine months before that… was the night that Lucius Malfoy had raped her...

Unwilling to believe that, he choked out a strangled, "Who… who's the…?"

Eyes filling with tears she had shed so many times before, her gaze still locked on the floor, she whispered, "Lucius Malfoy." Why she added the Malfoy part, she did not know, but that was the piece that hit Sirius so viciously.

He had now slid off the counter, but was finding it difficult to support his own weight, and was now seated on the floor, a vacant expression on his face.

"Where is he?" his voice was void of all and every emotion as he stared blankly into space, his body crumpled and motionless.

"I don't know," Hermione shook her head, now sobbing. _This isn't right… why did I have to say anything? No one else mentions it… He never would have found out. _

Sirius stood up, his legs shaky, but didn't even take the time to allow his body to become more stable. He walked out the door without a second glance.

Hermione heaved a great sob as she crippled under her own weight. Sliding down the side of the counter, her hair caught on one of the drawer handles, but she took no notice. The lock of hair ripped from her head under her body's weight, and she cried harder from the pain. Pain was the only thing she could feel at the moment… Pain from what Lucius had done to her, what he caused her to go through so long ago… what he was still causing her to go through now.

All of her friends had told her that as soon as she had the child, it would be swept away, and she could forget it all. Only thing was, Hermione Granger refused to receive any sort of memory charm. Not because she wanted to remember, but because she deserved to. If she was worthy of that treatment, then she was worthy of remembering it.

She remembered walking down the hall of Harry and Ron's apartment two months after the child had been born. She hadn't seen him since. Harry had insisted that Hermione stay with them, knowing that she was in no condition to take care of herself. Many people already thought her mind had broken… thought she was mad from her experiences, the horror she had locked in the darkest, most reticent depths of her mind.

She recalled what she heard that day…

"She's not crazy, Professor!" Harry's voice. Good, old reliable Harry. Harry who had not been there to keep that bastard from violating every inch of her skin and taking her body for his own.

"I know that, Mr. Potter. Miss – Hermione is much too strong… I believe that she has survived the whole ordeal with the same rather powerful mind that she's always had. The point I was trying to bring to your attention is that she perhaps does not the see the _light_ anymore." Dumbledore. Cryptic as ever.

"Light of what?" Ron snarled. Ron… her old lover. He hadn't been there when she was kidnapped. He had not saved her. He hadn't even tried.

"The War is over, Mr. Weasley – and it has been so for a very long time. Miss Granger has not noticed this – she has not noticed much of anything, I would say. She needs to be brought back… to the land of the living, you could say."

She had too noticed. What she didn't notice was the fact that she should be happy because of it.

"How do you suppose we do that?" Harry again. His voice quieter, subdued, afraid to let her go back into the real world. Afraid to let her out of his sight. Afraid to let her _live_.

"I'm going to offer Miss Granger the now open position of Charms professor at Hogwarts." Said with admirable simplicity. Simplicity that was not at all alike to the situation in which it was associated.

"What? You can't do that! She-"

"She's not ready, sir! I mean-"

Then she had walked away. Her feet made quiet slapping noises as they hit the linoleum floor and her robe clung to her legs as she moved further from the doorway she had stood unnoticed at.

They had not wanted her to leave them. They said they cared about her – did not want her to get hurt. But it was their fault that she had gotten hurt in the first place. They had not been there to protect her when she needed them most. They had failed her horribly… more horribly than she had ever thought they could.

Sirius was right the day he had confronted Hermione with the fact of the Golden Trio drifting apart – he was so unbelievably right, he couldn't even begin to see just how much.

She took the job. Of course she took it – she could not stand to be around her two best friends that had not done _their_ job.

One thing about Dumbledore that she really appreciated was the way he spoke to her when he visited. He did not speak as if she were some sort of idiot, or some sort of insane mental patient. He spoke to her as he always had, with the same encouraging smile – the only difference was that vibrant twinkle in his eye. When he spoke to her, the light was gone – and in a weird, deranged way – Hermione liked it. It made her feel that the Headmaster felt enough guilt for her misfortune that he couldn't bring himself to look as cheery and positive as he had before. It made her feel like he knew he hadn't been there for her.

One month later, a version of the old Hermione Granger had resurfaced. She threw herself into her work to forget her loneliness, and she managed to avoid thinking about her child. And on one night, as any other, she avoided sleeping right away because of the nightmares, and as a result of fatigue and boredom, had come across her fate.

A fate that she had never thought she would receive – a good one. One filled with love and acceptance, with cherishment and joy, with mirth and humor - and most of all - a future.

She spiraled into a world of happiness, too thrilled to care about her past. It was enough that she had told him about the rape – he needn't know about the child. Her own parents didn't know about the child – all nine months that she had carried it, she had stayed with Ron and Harry. There were only six people who were aware of its existence – Harry, Ron, Remus, Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Ginny. And it was a good thing Draco never found out – he could hardly look her in the eye as it was, with what his father had done. He couldn't stand to be alone with Hermione – guilt emerged from places he didn't know existed, and it was nearly unbearable. He always felt the guilt from his father's actions – he was the Malfoy heir, after all. It came with the fortune.

Now, as she lay on the kitchen floor four months later, she cried. She cried for it all – all she had lost; her innocence, her firstborn child, her best friends, her trust, and now the one thing that had given all of that back temporarily – her lover.

Just when she had thought the crying would stop, it returned and now had promise of eternal existence.

------------------

He couldn't even think straight – a thousand and one emotions were filling him, not to mention a thousand more thoughts and questions. It felt like someone had thrown him in a dark room, covered him with a thick blanket, and beat him until he was senseless and confused beyond belief.

He felt betrayed by Hermione – she had kept something so huge from him… He wasn't sure if he could trust her anymore. _A child? How could she hide that from me? Why didn't she tell me before? _

And most of all… Why did he feel so jealous?

Well he _knew_ why… Hermione had a son – he wasn't the father. Not that it was her fault, or his.

Without realizing it, Sirius had already reached Remus' door. Thankfully the werewolf answered his insistent knocking after a few seconds.

"Sirius, what-?" he began, rubbing his tired looking amber eyes as he surveyed his friend.

"Remus, I need to talk to you. Now." Without waiting for an invite, the black haired man walked into the quarters and flopped down heavily on the couch.

"Padfoot? What's wrong?" Remus, more alert than before, sat down across from his friend and leaned forward eagerly. He placed his elbows on his thighs and clasped his hands together, studying his friend's shell shocked expression.

"She… she has a son?" A question, not a statement, not a declaration of fact.

Lupin's face lost some of the scant color it usually contained. "She… she told you, did she?"

"You knew, of course. I bet you all knew," Sirius laughed inanely, as his eyes focused on something below Remus' gaze.

"Only a few of us know, Sirius. Hermione's own parents don't even know. I'm surprised that she told you…"

Sirius snorted. "Why's that? She can't trust me?"

"Don't be thick," Remus snapped, his eyes flashing. During Sirius' absence, he and the young woman had grown quite close, and he was rather protective of her. "That girl… she's been through so much, Padfoot. There wasn't a period in which at least one of us thought she had gone mad… all but Dumbledore. He never lost faith in her."

"He wouldn't – the man still has faith in the Longbottoms, Remus."

Remus cocked his head to the side and spoke evenly, "Are you angry with her?"

"Oh, is it a little noticeable?" he snarled at first, but at his friend's glare, attempted to sort his thoughts out a tad more. "Angry, yes – for not telling me sooner. But…" Sirius sighed – it was obvious the next statement was not easy for him to express. "I can't really blame her, can I? She must have wanted to forget it ever happened." Running a hand through his hair, he sighed again, causing Remus to believe his friend may deflate from all of the air releasing occurring.

"What brought it up?"

"See, that's the thing I don't know! She just kinda pounced it on me! No warning or anything… I was just eating some cookies, and…"

"You are aware that we _just_ ate, right?" Remus smiled, hoping to lighten the dreary mood.

Sirius chuckled. "That's what she said…"

"You love her, Padfoot, and I'm betting she's feeling a little… well, scared to hell right now, the way you just stormed out of there."

"How do you know I stormed out?" Sirius growled, frustrated at his friend for being so damn accurate all the time.

"You're the storming out type," Remus dismissed with a wave of his hand, "Now – are you going to go see her, or stay for a bit?"

His friend considered his options for a moment. He felt utterly jumbled, as if his thoughts and emotions were thrown into a giant mixing bowl and blended up to become unrecognizable. It would be no use to rush right back to her in the condition he was in. He needed to relax, talk a little more. Sirius smiled slightly, "You have any more fire whiskey?"

------------------

Sirius tumbled through the corridor, his mind blissfully happy at the moment. Although Remus had warned him not to leave before casting a sobriety charm, he just promised his friend that he would perform one and staggered through the door.

Now he was standing outside Hermione's portrait entrance, groping blindly for his wand, his eyes horribly unfocused, hoping that he was indeed at the correct painting.

He mumbled the charm, luckily not slurring horribly enough so that it was useless, and shook his head to clear it.

_Alright, Black. You can do this – you've been through worse. _

He whispered the password and clenched his left hand together nervously. He really hoped she wasn't bawling her eyes out uncontrollably.

But to his surprise, she was not – instead, she lay curled up on the floor in the fetal position, as she had been minutes after he had left a couple hours ago. Her eyes were open and blinked rarely, her gaze empty.

"'Mione?" She whimpered as he scooped her into his arms after tossing his wand down. He realized he needed to get through to her. Moony had warned him that she was apt to become dazed for long periods of time, her mind weak and vulnerable. "I love you. And like I've said before, you're stuck with me… No matter what."

Her stare seemed to soften, but she remained silent, her eyes blinking slowly. _Is he really here? Is he actually doing this? _

She was reassured completely when he placed a soft kiss on her temple, whispering the command to sleep.

The least she could do was comply.

-----------------------

**A/N: **I hate this chapter, but it needed to be written. If you're still confused about _anything_, tell me in your review and I'll clear it up in the next, much more interesting chapter. Savvy?

Review please!


	20. This is It

**I Want the Fire Back**

**Summary:** Hermione is obsolete – the War is over, Harry and Ron are busy, and she the mere Charms teacher at Hogwarts. When a presumably dead man comes back better than ever, she suddenly means everything... to him. SiHr

**Rating:** R for language, themes, sex, and whatever else may come out of my twisted little mind.

**Disclaimer:** It's not me who owns these characters or any plots associated with the Harry Potter books.

**Mouseisi: **Yes, yes, I _know_ it's Jack Sparrow's word! But in the wizarding world, Sirius is the equivalent to Jack in attitude and looks. Not the _same_ in attitude and looks, but you get my drift. But yes, I do admit it was Jack's word first. Lol.

**Tomiko the Muse: **I know Ginny's real name is Ginevra, but I _really _didn't want to confuse people, so I made her Virginia. Lol. I hope it's not too big a deal! Oh, and I don't know what that quote is from… Damn, I feel really stupid now! Yay! Cookie!

**Niam: **Hermione still becomes catatonic when she goes through a vast amount of stress or grief, or has to recall bad memories. But it has not happened since Sirius has been back. Hmmm… wonder why.

**Juliette Subervie: **Nope nope, Sirius is most definitely not going to want to adopt the child. Hermione could not handle that, for even the mere memories of what she has been through are hard for her to handle.

**amber: **You didn't get top billing because you said anything 'mean'! You got it because yours was the only review in which I felt the need to respond to it. Your review didn't offend me in the least, so don't believe that I was hurt by it. And I do look over my reviews, and I did notice that a lot of people thought that the son was a crazy revelation – but they merely expressed shock, whereas you **_seemed_** to doubt my ability to be able to keep the story up to par with the addition. And I'm really aware of the fact that not everyone will like what I write, because I have tons of favorite stories, yet I don't like _every _word of them. I just hope I didn't upset or offend you because of how I responded to your review, because it wasn't meant to be discourteous. :)

**A/N: I am making a bit of atime leap in this chapter about midway through, so don't get confused. **

**Chapter 20: This is It**

Hermione awoke seventeen hours later, sore and hungry. She hadn't eaten for a long time, and her soreness was a result of the awkward position she had slept in on the bed.

_What happened? _was her first coherent thought before it all flooded back to her in a torrential wave. She had blurted _it_ out… he left… she slipped, both physically and emotionally… and then he came back.

_He always comes back_, she thought with a satisfied smile.

"Love, you're up!" Sirius swept into the bedroom clad in a pair of black boxers and a grey t-shirt. He seemed genuinely pleased that she was 'back', and he immediately felt the urge to apologize for his behavior… not that he didn't have the right to react as he had so vividly the day before.

"I suppose," Hermione spoke in a quiet voice, her eyes brown and large, making her appear childish indeed. But cute nonetheless.

"You feeling okay?" Sirius sat down on the edge of the bed as he spoke, raking his concerned gaze over her body and face. He sat slightly far away, not too close to disturb her, in case she was still upset with him.

She nodded, biting her lip, disliking the distance between them instantly. Was he _that_ upset with her?

"'Mione… I'd like to, uh… you know, apologize?" It came out as a question. _Dammit._

She looked up at him, surprised – she had not expected _him_ to apologize.

"Er… why?" she said before she could even think of a more intelligible response. _Dammit._

"For the way I acted!" Sirius said incredulously. He eyed her with a wary expression, unsure as to why she seemed so… unaffected by his apology.

She shrugged indifferently. "You reacted like any other even mildly intellectual person would."

"Oh…" Sirius seemed put out. A lot of fever had gone into that apology… "So you're not mad at me?"

_Leave it up to Sirius to look upset that someone _isn't _upset with him._ "Only if you're not mad at me."

"Deal," he smiled brightly, leaning forward to kiss her on the lips.

_ Ah, there's the touching I missed…_ Hermione mused. "I think I'll get some coffee," she smiled against his lips before pulling away and swinging her legs off the side of the bed.

"You sure you're ready to get up?" Sirius bit his lip as he stood up, hovering near her.

"I didn't get hit by a car, Black – I… had a crying… fit," Hermione jutted out her jaw stubbornly as she wandered into the kitchen, Sirius sighing and tagging along behind her.

_Bloody amazing woman, that is_.

--------------------

**About five months later…**

"It's a baby girl," Molly Weasley smiled as she slipped from her daughter's hospital room quietly.

"Oh!" Hermione gasped in joy, bringing her hands to her face. "Is she alright? Is the baby okay?"

"Yes, yes, very much so. The new Malfoy is quite adequately screaming her lungs out," Harry laughed as he also exited the room. He had basically joined Draco and Molly in there to support his blond friend, who had been swaying haphazardly during the delivery. Now he was grinning like an idiot, a new father and an entirely new person.

"Gets that from her mum, she does," Ron smirked. "Did you _hear_ Ginny in there? I mean, I thought my ears would burst!"

Hermione scoffed. "Try pushing a watermelon through the hole the size of a lemon, Ronald, and we'll see how horribly you scream."

Ron made a truly disgusted face and winced, causing the rest of the waiting room to laugh.

"Same thing Lily snapped to me after I commented on her yelling during Harry's delivery," Sirius smiled fondly in remembrance and Harry blushed. He always felt embarrassed when Sirius talked about him as a baby – just like he would if any _parent_ mentioned something their offspring had done at an extremely young age.

"So, 'Mione," Tonks smiled from her plastic chair next to Remus, who was snoring quietly. "When're you going to be in that room, hmm?"

Sirius choked and spit out his recently ingested coffee - not for the first time - dousing Remus with it.

"Ah!" Lupin yelped like a wounded dog as he jerked awake and slipped from his chair, glaring at his best friend. "Bloody maniac…"

Hermione paled drastically and clamped her mouth closed. _She didn't mean it, 'Mione… she didn't mean to bring up memories – she was just talking about your _future – _not your past…_

"Oh, as soon as this baby here grows up," Hermione smiled as she patted Sirius on the shoulder. He glared at her and with a pouty expression, said, "I am grown up. I just… have moments of uncontrollable immaturity and foolishness," he crossed his arms over his chest and added, "And I happen to receive immense joy from those moments…"

"I definitely see your point, 'Mione," Fred smirked from his chair across from them, resulting in Sirius throwing a small sugar packet meant for coffee at his head.

"I see your point and I raise you one," George mimicked his twin's smirk, but managed to dodge Padfoot's sugar packet.

"Are you family of Virginia Weasley and Draco Malfoy?"

The group in the waiting room swiveled around to rest their eyes on a short girl with blond hair, named Rhonda, as it clearly stated on her nametag.

"Yes," chorused from the entire lot of thirteen.

"Oh…" Rhonda seemed a little shocked at the rather large reception of people for that one couple. "Well, I suppose I could allow as many as five to go in at a time to see the baby..."

"You can go on, kids, Arthur, Harry and I have already seen her," Molly motioned for them to choose amongst themselves who was to go first.

The first group consisted of Fred and George, Charlie and Bill, and Ron.

Charlie smiled lovingly down at his neice, his eyes a tad watery. "She's beautiful, Gin."

"Like her mother, of course," Draco smiled with admiration as he viewed his sweaty and tired wife as if she were the most beautiful creature in the world, despite her currently rather horrid appearance.

Bill mumbled uncertainly about the girl looking incredibly lively and bright, to which George scoffed, "Oh really, Bill? I mean, considering she was just born and all, I expected her to act all motionless and dead-like."

"Hey little tyke!" Fred beamed at the child, making his freckles stand out even more. "We're your uncles!" he motioned to George, who also beamed and added, "And we'll teach you everything we know so that you may make your dad here go prematurely bald with stress!"

Draco was in so good a mood he laughed, and the first group left a few moments later. After, of course, Ron peered hesitantly at the child and chuckled as she struck out with her little hands, eyes closed and smiling. The kid must have been able to _feel_ the huge amount of love in the room, with that dopey grin on its face.

The others entered next, and Sirius placed himself next to Draco so that he may peer down into the tiny child's face. Hermione, Tonks, Remus, and Percy went to the other side of the bed, so that they could each take their turns holding the baby.

The baby, it turned out, did not have white hair and freckles, as Ron had predicted. She had vivaciously red hair and light silver eyes. Sirius was the first to take verbal note of this.

"Fire and ice," he murmured as he reached his hand out towards the girl, who promptly grabbed his index finger in her minute hand.

"What?" Ginny asked with a puzzled expression.

Sirius motioned to the hair and eyes of the child, calling them by their respective metaphors.

Understanding immediately, Ginny and Hermione let out small gasps. "How's that for unique?" Tonks whispered with a smile as she peered at the baby.

"What's her name?" Percy asked as he cooed towards the girl.

Ginny took a deep breath, ready to recite the moniker her and Draco had _finally_ decided on. "Fiore Ciel Malfoy."

"Pretty name," Hermione murmured as she played with one of Fiore's hands.

"For such a pretty girl," Remus smiled at Draco, who was flushed with excitement, creating red splotches on his pale skin.

"Did you really think I could produce anything less?"

-----------------

"I'm really happy for Gin and Draco," Hermione smiled earnestly as she took her shoes off and tossed them in the corner of the backroom. Sirius nodded in agreement dashed off to the bathroom, causing her to roll her eyes.

_ Surprised he doesn't wet his pants - all that damn coffee he drinks._

School was over now, which meant that Hermione and Sirius no longer dwelled within the walls of Hogwarts. They had purchased a rather nice sized home, away from any large muggle cities. They were near a town called Adler View. It wasn't exactly a wizarding community, but it wasn't completely non-magical either. It was the climatically milder part of England, but rather far away from their friends and family. There was always floo powder and apparating, though, so distance was not a vital part of their decision to live there. Thankfully, for Hermione had fallen in love with the house almost as intensely as she had the man who she would share it with.

Sirius returned moments later, a look of relief on his features. "So, love… what are we doing today?"

Hermione sighed and flopped down on the couch, working a pillow under her feet. "Hmm, didn't we do enough?" she muttered groggily in response, causing Sirius to chuckle.

A rather irritating pecking sound interrupting the beginning of Sirius' incessant rampage of annoyance about to be unleashed upon his fiancée.

Sighing, the young Black trotted over to the eastern window of the living room and flung it open to reveal an impressive looking tawny owl. Noticing that its letter was addressed to him, Sirius provided the owl with some water and lifted Hermione's feet up before collapsing down on the couch and ripping open the envelope.

"Who's it from?" the brunette mumbled through a yawn, a curious expression upon her features.

"Oh… Uh, the Ministry…" Sirius responded distractedly, his eyes raking the letter.

"What? Why'd they owl you?" the girl sat up, trying to peer at the parchment in her lover's hands, but Sirius kept it well away from her prying gaze.

And then she noticed the Auror symbol on the envelope.

"Sirius?"

He looked up to meet her stare. "'Mione… I… Well you didn't think I would stay at Hogwarts forever, did you?" he finished with a slight smile, hoping that it would lessen the wrath he was about to bring about.

Her silent but vicious glare was enough to tell him that his smile did very little or nothing at all to diminish the aforementioned wrath.

"Come on, Hermione! You aren't going to keep teaching there, are you? I mean, I understand if you took the job to remember the good times, get back into the run of things… but I figure, after you graduate, Hogwarts is just a childhood memory. A place where you were safe, where you met your best friends, where you pulled your first prank… But you can't come back just because it's a place of comfort. You have to go out and face the world… Leave it behind, but remember it… Cherish it, always…"

Tears started cascading down Hermione's face, surprising Sirius. "I hate this… Why don't I notice these things? Am I that _stupid_? Ginny guessed that you would go back to being an Auror before it even crossed my mind! You knew before I did that I wouldn't want to go back to Hogwarts! Am I so daft that I can't realize my own feelings anymore?"

"Don't be ridiculous – you've been preoccupied with other things," Sirius shrugged, reacting quite calmly to Hermione's outburst. "Just focus on the fact that you don't want to remain at Hogwarts – what do you _really_ want to do?"

Sniffing slightly, Hermione rubbed her eyes and stared into space for a moment. Sirius was quite pleased at how proficient he was becoming at calming her down from her exuberant flare-ups. Of course, he had pretty grand people skills; even after the last twenty years of not being able to really utilize them, but to calm down one of Granger's moods like that was indeed admirable.

"I always wanted to open a little bookstore… A Muggle one, of course – with all of the classics and such…" She whispered dreamily, biting her lip. Suddenly she shook her head, sighing, "But I don't have nearly enough money for that, and-"

"Love," Sirius began with a smile, cutting her off at the beginning of a grievous rant, "You may not have the money, but I do."

No words were found necessary as Hermione propelled herself towards her fiancé, a vivid grin on her features, and kissed him passionately.

Cocky as he was, he did have a slight reason to be. He was incessantly correct about her. She would never forget Hogwarts, or the people she had found there, but she was finally ready to move away from her childhood home and become the content adult everyone wishes to be.

Once again Hermione Ann Granger found herself spiraling infinitely out of control, happiness overwhelming her with its presence.

For the second time in the past rather eventful year of her life, she found the need for a little organization.

Let's make a tidy little list, shall we?

1) She would be marrying Sirius Black in approximately one month.

2) Perhaps open bookstore in near future, filled with immensely pleasurable literature favorites, and spend day after day browsing them and conversing with customers about their content.

3) She would the rest of her days waking up to the most beautiful man she had ever met, with a thirst for life she had never experienced before.

4) And as a result of the aforementioned elements - and the man that had stumbled from a veil and fallen at her feet - she was happy.

Hermione had roguish grin as Sirius flipped her over on the couch's leather surface, his dark eyes hooded with lust and mischief, mirroring her own caramel colored orbs.

_Should I inform him that my ridiculous mood swing may be result of my rather late menstrual cycle?_

----------------------

**_The End. _**

**A/N:** Yay! 200 review mark! You guys rule! Thanks a lot!

I'm beginning to lose faith in this story, it's gone horribly downhill and it depresses me to think about it. It's just not even _remotely_ good anymore.

So, me writing a sequel is up to you – I promise you that if I do become _convinced_ to write one, it will not be as bad as this story turned out to be. _If_ I am convinced to do so, which I doubt anyone will want to convince me to do. It would take place ten years in the future, for your information… I mean, this story really only is the _beginning _of a long life filled with love for Sirius and Hermione. Well, that's all.

Thanks for the fun ride, kids. ****


	21. Don't Get Your Hopes Up

First off, I would like to say that this is _not_ a new chapter, nor an epilogue of _I Want the Fire Back_ (though I do have ideas for an epilogue for that! I'm working on it!). I am merely informing you all of the birth of my new story. Another Sirius/Hermione, of course! What else could it be? It's also darker, more mature, more cynical, and _much_ more to my liking. It isn't one of those sad/angsty stories which ends with the couple's breakup – it's a lot different than that. But _please_ check it out – I promise you that it'll be completed thoroughly! It's titled _Found Wanting_, and is rated _R_ once again, for language, violence, and sex.

**THANK YOU ALL FOR EVER READING OR REVIEWING THIS STORY – IT IS NOT DEAD. PLEASE CHECK OUT MY OTHER ONE!**


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